THE  SPECTATOR  COMPANY,  Sole  Selling  Agents, 
95  William  St.,  New  York. 


COPYRIGHT  1900 

BY 
H.  T.  LAMEY 


PRESS  OF 

WOODWARD  &  TIERNAN  PRINTING  CO. 
ST.  LOUIS 


encircle  /M^b  fir  r 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

THE  IXJCAL  AGENT 
EXPECTATION 

CHAP.        I— Of  My  Parentage, 

Birth  and  Education. 
II— The  Country  Editor. 
Ill— My  First  Agency. 
IV— The   Town    and    My 

Associates. 
V — Antecedents     of    My 

Competitors. 
VI— The  Office  Clerk. 
VII— A  Missouri  Rate. 
VIII — Reorganizing  the  Lo- 

cal  Board. 
IX — Soliciting  Business  . 

X— Men  I  have  Met. 
XI — Local  Observations. 
XII— The  Financial 

Problem. 
XIII— The  American 

Agency  System. 
XIV — A  Message  From  the 

Far  West. 
XV-A  Visit  to  Texas. 


PART  II 

THE  SPECIAL  AGENT 
REALIZATION 

CHAP.       I— Introduces  the  Special. 
II — The  New  Man. 
Ill— The  State  Board. 
IV — A  Delinquent  Agent. 
V — Planting   an   Agency 

in  Missouri. 
VI — Inspections. 
VII— Changing  an  Agency 

in  Kansas. 
VIII— Cultivating  the 

Agents. 

IX— My  First  Loss. 
X — A  Special's  Decalogue. 
XI -The  Hail  Man. 
XII — An  Adjuster's  Yarn. 
"      XIII— The  Public  Adjuster. 
XIV — Agens  Speciarius. 
XV— Autographic  Biog- 
raphy of  Jones. 


PART  III 
THE  MANAGER 

DISENCHANTMENT 


CHAP.     I— Introductory. 
II — The  Manager. 
Ill — Responsibility. 
IV— Ethics. 
V — Legislation. 
VI— The  Rate. 
"      VII— The  Individual  Rate. 


CHAP.  VIII — Insurance  Associa- 
tions. 
IX— Organization  and 

Co-operation. 
X — Diagnosis. 
XI — Prescription. 
"        XII — Conclusion. 


PREFACE 

HE  reader  may  blame  the 
Editor  for  the  lack  of  conse- 
cution in  Mr.  Jones'  Me'moires. 
They  were  as  voluminous  as  a 
last  century  romance,  and  as 
prosy  as  the  sermons  he  might 
have  delivered.  The  Editor  is  also  responsible  for 
the  suppression  of  three-fourths  of  his  manuscript, 
but  not  for  all  of  his  opinions.  Opinion  is  so 
much  a  matter  of  temperament  and  environment 
that  a  change  in  either  may  produce  different 
conclusions.  If  you  do  not  agree  with  all  his 
dicta,  it  may  be  attributed  to  difference  in  tem- 
perament, for  Jones  was  red-haired. 

Judged  by  his  Me'moires,  he  was,  with  one 
exception,  an  ordinary  business  man.  He  says 
he  was  large  and  strong,  from  which  I  infer  that 
his  digestion  was  good.  Yet  there  are  many 
symptoms  of  the  pessimist,  a  physical  and  mental 
combination  most  extraordinary.  He  begins  life 


(7) 


jokingly,  and  his  jibes  grow  progressively  sarcastic, 
cynical  and  Schopenhauerish.  Disenchantment 
follows  the  realization  of  his  expectations.  How 
many  of  his  middle-aged  readers  can  reconstruct 
the  process  from  experience? 

The  tale  of  his  commonplace  life  is  told  with- 
out literary  pretensions.  If  the  story  be  dull  and 
uninteresting,  it  is  still  a  fair  caricature  of  the 
business  in  his  time,  and  is  overdrawn  only  enough 
to  accentuate  some  of  the  abuses  that  have  grown 
into  and  become  a  part  of  the  agency  system. 
As  he  is  not  a  reincarnation  of  Dickens,  it  is  too 
much  to  expect  that  his  satire  may  correct  bad 
practices;  but  some  of  them  may  be  abated,  or 
at  least  deserve  the  contempt  born  of  familiarity. 

Few  who  have  not  had  personal  experience 
are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  lot  of  the  Country 
Agent,  though  some  of  the  foremost  American 
Underwriters  began  their  insurance  career  in  the 
country  town.  If  he  deserves  or  receives  any 
sympathy,  it  will  be  from  men  familiar  with  the 
great  expectation,  and  consequent  disappoint- 
ment, of  the  humble  country  agent.  His  city 
brother  is  trained  in  a  different  groove,  and  can 
see  beyond  the  tinsel  of  title  and  authority.  He 


lives  so  near  the  throne,  that  he  cannot  conceive 
of  such  innocence ;  he  is  disenchanted  from  birth. 
The  business  future  is  unpromising,  but  it  is 
not  hopeless.  Napoleon  arose  out  of  the  chaos 
of  Revolution,  and,  under  his  guidance,  anarchy 
became  order;  weakness  was  converted  into 
strength.  Strong  men  are  the  product  of  desper- 
ate situations.  May  we  not  expect  the  coming  of  a 
Moses  who  will  lead  us  through  the  Wilderness? 

THE  EDITOR. 


PART  I 


EXPECTATION 


CHAPTER  I 

OF   MY   PARENTAGE,    BIRTH   AND    EDUCATION 


N  the  middle    of    the    nineteenth 
Century,  before  the  discovery  of 
petroleum,  Northwest  Pennsylva- 
nia was  noted  for  its  hills  without 
soil,  good  timber,  abundance  of 
game,  rough  roads,    poor   trans- 
portation facilities,  and  self-sus- 
taining,   self-supporting   people. 
The    Allegheny    River    was    the 
highway,  rafts  were  the  vehicles,  and  Pittsburgh 
was  the  Mecca.     All  that  portion  of  the  State  was 
out  West,  Ohio  being  'way  out  West. 

The  early  settlers  were  the  Dutch  from  East 
of  the  mountains,  Scotch-Irish,  and  a  few  trans- 
planted French  peasants,  wooden  shoes,  supersti- 
tion and  all.  Everyone  knows  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Dutchman  and  his  peculiarities.  He  is  fre- 
quently born  in  a  log  house,  while  his  cattle  live 
in  a  frame  barn.  He  works  in  the  field  fifteen 


(13) 


14 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


hours  a  day,  and  at  least  three  hours  about  his 
stable;  thrives  through  hard  work  and  economy, 
and  thus  leaves  to  the  next  generation  better 
prospects  than  he  himself  inherited.  The  Scotch- 
Irish  are  more  ascetic  and  hard-headed,  with 
strong,  well-disciplined  religious  convictions  and 
prejudices.  They  make  steady  citizens,  of  robust 
constitutions  and  healthy  blood. 

Such  was  the  time  and  place  of  my  nativity, 
and  as  indicated,  I  am  a  Dutch- 
Irishman,  differing  from  Cun- 
ningham in  that  he  is  an  Irish- 
Dutchman.  The  ascetic  pre- 
dominated in  the  home  life  and 
morals  of  both.  Neither  of  us 
were  permitted  to  whistle  on  a 
Sunday  when  we  were  boys,  and 
I  attribute  the  sedate  and  austere 
manners  and  conduct  of  the  lat- 
ter to  his  early  training.  However,  I  do  not  set 
much  store  upon  my  Geburtsort.  We  Americans 
are  so  migratory  that  home  does  not  mean  as 
much  to  us  as  to  our  old  world  ancestors.  The 
chief  point  is  that  I  was  born,  not  where  or  when. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


15 


The  writer  of  an  autobiography  should  com- 
mence early.  With  due  reference  to  the  good 
example  he  is  to  set  his  readers,  his  youth  should 
be  filled  with  noble  thoughts  and  aspirations,  thus 
distinguishing  him  from  the  common  herd.  Alas, 
even  the  uncommon  youngster — if  there  be  one — 
is  much  like  Gargantua  in  his  childhood,  differing 
from  other  children  only  in  degree,  and  giving 
little  promise  of  his  future  greatness.  There  are 
prodigies  and  good  children,  but  they  mostly  go 
crazy  or  die  young. 

The  educational  facilities  of  a  backwoods 
community  were  not  equal  to  those  of  the  present 
city. schools,  yet  I  learned  to  read,  "figger"  and 
fight.  Of  the  three  accomplishments,  I  think  the 
last  the  most  useful  for  an  insurance  career.  It 
is  true  I  did  not  acquire  it  with  malice  prepense, 
as  I  was  a  grown  man  before  I  ever  saw  an  insur- 
ance policy.  It  was  not  much  of  a  policy  either, 
as  it  belonged  to  the  brood  of  township  or  county 
mutuals,  a  few  of  which  have  survived  even  to 
this  day. 

The  life  of  a  farmer  boy  is  romantic — in  the 
perspective  of  the  past.  In  the  present  it  is  a 


16 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


life  of  realities.  As  soon  as  he  can  walk  he  is 
set  to  herding  stones  on  the  meadow,  while  hun- 
gry fish  are  watching  for  worms.  Then  he  must 
drop  corn,  and  hoe  it  when  it  is  up;  carry  water, 
turn  the  grindstone  during  harvest — a  thankless 
task,  but  strengthening  to  the  arms — dig  pota- 
toes, husk  the  corn,  and,  beside  a  hundred  other 
employments,  chop  the  fire  wood  and  do  the  chores. 
Is  it  strange  that  he  should  think  a  professional 
career  more  attractive?  Is  he  not 
justified,  considering  his  exper- 
ience, in  seeking  more  remuner- 
ative employment,  since  his  aver- 
age wages  (though  he  often  does 
more  than  a  man's  work)  is  a  quar- 
ter on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  an 
occasional  circus  ticket? 

Next  to  naming  the  baby,  the  most  anxious 
family  discussion  is  connected  with  his  future  vo- 
cation. What  shall  we  make  of  him?  My  god- 
father was  a  minister,  now  one  of  Chicago's 
prominent  divines,  and  I  was  destined  by  my  par- 
ents to  the  same  career,  but  the  cherished  hope 
withered,  much  to  my  mother's  chagrin,  and  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


17 


Church  unknowingly  lost  a  shining  light.  As 
piety  and  good  lungs  often  outweigh  brains,  it  is 
possible  I  might  have  become  a  presiding  elder 
in  the  fulness  of  time.  Whether  even  this  ex- 
alted position  outranks  that  of  an  insurance  agent, 
I  leave  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader.  At  any 
rate,  what  might  have  been,  wasn't. 

When  I  was  sixteen  and  six  feet ;  when  I  had 
not  only  gone  through  all  the  country  school 
books,  but  had  taught  a  country  school  one  term, 
I  was  sent  to  college.  The  result  of  the  four 
years  spent  there  I  summarize  as  follows:  My 
clothes  fitted  me  better;  part  of  my  gaucherie  had 
disappeared;  I  had  absorbed  a  little  Latin,  and 
less  Greek,  and  was  less  qualified  to  earn  a  living 
at  twenty  than  at  twelve.  My  bump  of  self-es- 
teem had  developed  out  of  all  proportion;  in  fact, 
I  was  a  fair  sample  of  most  college  products;  I 
had  a  distaste  for  manual  labor,  and  was  not 
equipped  for  anything  else.  I,  therefore,  trav- 
eled for  a  couple  of  years,  and  attwo-and-twenty, 
that  serious1  problem,  How  shall  I  collect  my  liv- 
ing from  the  world?  was  still  unsolved. 


,  off.  K  «•««<?«  - 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  COUNTRY  EDITOR 


Y  first  employment  was  that  of  a 
clerk  in  an  insurance  office  at 
Podunk,  Mo.  I  was  on  my  way 
to  Mexico ,  a  country  much  talked 
of  at  that  time ,  and  where  op- 
portunities to  make  a  fortune 
were  said  to  be  abundant.  My 
funds  were  low,  and  I  tarried  to 
replenish  the  chest.  It  was  a  more 
serious  undertaking  than  I  imagined. 
I  was  a  finished  architect  of  Castles  in  Spain,  but 
my  plans  never  progressed  beyond  the  drawings, 
and  my  dreams  of  making  money  differed  slightly 
from  the  reality.  I  could  pay  my  board  by 
economy,  but  I  could  not  accumulate,  and  the 
business  of  insurance,  as  introduced  to  me,  was 
not  attractive.  Although  a  fortune  awaited  me 
in  Mexico  I  was  unable  to  claim  it.  It  awaits 
me  yet. 


(19) 


20 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Cherchez  la  femme,  our  Gallic  friends  say. 
I  found  her  without  seeking.  Without  serious 
thought  of  matrimony,  behold  me  married.  I  had 
been  in  love  a  dozen  times  before,  but  not  often 
enough  to  evolve  an  ideal.  It  is  the  old  fellow 
who  has  a  stock  of  unattainable  ideals,  and 
they  do  not  result  in  marriage  licenses.  The 
world  is  repeopled  by  youthful  love,  not  by  mature 
calculation,  (which  is  not  a  component  of  love) 
or,  as  the  cynics  and  bachelors  say,  by  rashness 
rather  than  reason. 

By  this  time  I  had  established  a  country  news- 
paper, and  had  a  fair  prospect  of  such  a  compe- 
tence as  usually  comes  to  the  country  editor.  In 
inducing  Matilda  to  share  my  prospective  fortune, 
I  was  as  honest  as  Col.  Sellers  and  about  as  wise. 
What  brains  I  had  were  evidently  not  employed 
in  the  business  department,  where  a  superior 
quality  and  quantity  was  needed. 

In  every  community  there  are  a  number  of 
aspiring  writers,  but  most  of  them  are  too  wise 
to  own  their  own  educator ;  they  borrow  the  local 
paper  for  their  effusions,  and  place  it  under  obli- 
gations for  the  copy.  My  refusal  to  sponge  on 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


21 


my  neighbor  was  responsible  for  a  valuable  busi- 
ness experience  that  to  many  men  conies  too  late 
in  life.  I  was  young,  my  enthusiasm  was  not 
exhausted,  although  my  small  capital  was,  and 
my  next  venture  had  to  be  chosen  accordingly. 
My  creditors  owned  the  plant. 

While  inexperience  was  partially  responsible 
for  my  failure,  one  of  the  causes  lay  deeper,  and 
is  inherent  to  the  business.  The  country  merchant 
imagines  space  is  worth  nothing.  The  editor 
must  get  out  a  paper  every  week,  and  might  as 
well  fill  up  on  advertising  as  on  longwinded  edi- 
torials that  nobody  cares  to  read.  Consequently 
when  he  trades  out  an  advertising  bill,  he  feels 
as  if  he  was  doing  his  whole  duty  to  the  commu- 
nity. He  no  more  thinks  of  paying  money  for 
locals  than  does  the  patent  medicine  man. 

The  farmer  pays  for  his  subscription  in  pro- 
duce— the  merchant  pays  for  advertising  in  goods — 
the  doctor  in  services — and  a  good  many  of  the 
others  not  at  all .  The  cash  drawer  is  always  empty . 
During  the  horse  season  money  is  easier,  but  there 
is  never  enough  to  go  around.  Everybody  pays  in 
trade,  and  everybody  wants  to  be  paid  in  cash. 


22 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Even  the  devil  wants  a  quarter  occasionally .  I  could 
stand  off  my  home  creditors,  as  they  presented  their 
bills  in  a  perfunctory  way,  not  expecting  them  to 
be  paid;  but  the  St.  Louis  houses  were  not  so 
easily  jollied.  When  I  didn't  pay  promptly,  they 
sent  their  material  C.  O.  D. — and  who  has  learned 
the  art  of  working  an  express  agent?  I  never. 

Once  I  made  a  killing  on  a  tax  list,  paid  all 
my  foreign  bills,  and  was  the  proudest  man  in 
town.  It  was  so  unusual  and  delightful  to  have 
an  established  credit  that  I  worked  it  overtime, 
and  it  wouldn't  remain  established.  Even  a 
chattel  mortgage  as  a  last  resort  could  not  keep 
it  going,  and  when  the  sheriff  added  the  last  straw 
by  getting  his  sale  bill  printed  at  the  opposition 
office,  the  Bazoo  ceased  to  toot. 

If  you  want  advice  on  how  to  conduct  any 
business  properly,  you  can  always  get  it  from  the 
man  who  tried  it  and  couldn't.  I  know  a  plenty 
about  the  newspaper  business — enough  never  to 
undertake  it  again, — and  I  offer  my  experience 
and  conclusions  gratuitously  to  the  aspiring  youth, 
who  thinks  he  is  fashioned  to  fill  a  long  felt  want. 
Use  some  other  man's  paper  freely,  if  he  will 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  23 

permit  you,  but  do  not  attempt  to  publish  one  of 
your  own.  There  is  no  money  in  it.  The  Wash- 
ington hand  press  reminds  me  too  much  of  the 
grindstone  on  the  farm.  It  is  a  thankless  work, 
but  strengthening  to  the  arms. 


CHAPTER  III 

MY   FIRST   AGENCY 

HEORETICALLY,  there 
are  many  ways  of  estab- 
lishing a  business;  but  in 
practice  most  local  insur- 
ance agents  are  graduates 
of  the  school  of  adversity. 

Demonstrate  by  failure 
that  you  are  unfitted  to  conduct 
a  business  of  your  own;  add 
creditors  q.  s.,  and  the  pre- 
scription is  finished.  I  took 
this  course,  with  a  diploma  from  a  country  news- 
paper office,  in  addition  to  the  following  qualifi- 
cations: A  good  local  acquaintance,  some 
experience  as  a  solicitor,  and  the  good  will  and 
best  wishes  of  all  my  creditors.  The  latter  not 
only  assisted  me  to  companies,  but  helped  the 
companies  get  business — by  trading  over-due 
bills  for  policies. 


(25) 


26 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Jiryodesn 


Nothing  so  clearly  demonstrates  the  laxity 
in  the  general  conduct  of  the  agency  business  as 
its  facility;  the  companies  are  literally  easy. 
Ranking  next  to  banking  in  the  volume  of  finan- 
cial transactions,  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  an 
incompetent  or  dishonest  representative,  one  not 
_  familiar  with  the  business  would  suppose  an 
I  agency  hedged  about  with  some  safeguards.  On 
the  contrary,  agencies  go  begging  in  every 
community,  appointments  are  often  made  by 
correspondence  without  even  the  pretense  of 
investigation,  and  men  whose  local  credit  is 
limited  to  a  quarter's  worth  of  soap  secured  by 
the  washerwife's  wages,  are  authorized  to  jeop- 
ardize the  assets  of  million-dollar  companies 
every  day  in  every  State.  Is  it  not  a  legitimate 
and  honorable  calling?  If  so,  is  it  just  to  depre- 
ciate the  business  of  established  agents  by  the 
creation  of  disreputable  competitors?  Yet  greedy 
competition  is  responsible  for  even  worse  condi- 
tions than  the  elimination  of  justice,  fairness  and 
professional  ethics. 

I  had  desk  room  in  a  jewelry  store ;   my  sign 
was  a  modest  lie;    it  read  "Insurance  Agency," 


INSURANCE 

AtiENCY 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


WESTERM  DEPARTMENT 


tflTS  ^Y'VMCTf 

nttou 

I  \a&s- 

ij 


r 


r 


3 


t  tT  (^ 

;ai|^K>f^  y      5A^  ^E* 


M'FlOfOODWORP 

SPECIAL  AQENT 
MO,  KAN. 6- Cot. 


28 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


NOTICE 

SPECIAL  ALEUTS 
.  Plenty  of  room  o» 


the  writer  inadvertently  omitting  the  "Wanted." 
In  the  make-up,  it  got  into  the  wrong  column, 
that  was  all;  but  it  served  a  purpose,  for  it 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  special  agent  of  the 
Cataract  Insurance  Company.  After  some  pre- 
liminary conversation,  he  told  me  a  lot  of  things 
I  did  not  know;  explained  the  safety  valve  con- 
struction of  the  company;  dilated  upon  the 
attractive  name,  and  more  attractive  sign  by 
some  great  master;  persuaded  me  I  could  renew 
all  the  business  on  his  books  (one  policy)  ;  gave 
me  such  preliminary  instructions  as  other  topics 
permitted,  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  His 
original  report  was  recently  resurrected  from  the 
old  files  of  the  Cataract  office,  and  is  reproduced 
as  a  confirmation  of  the  statement  that  I  was 
made,  not  born,  an  insurance  agent.  The  special 
agent  is  a  practical  every-day  optimist;  every 
agency  change  is  a  good  one — or  he  would  not 
make  it.  Every  man  will  learn — at  some  com- 
pany's expense.  Every  prophecy  is  good — if  it 
is  fulfilled,  and  if  not  it  can  be  repeated  ad.  lib. 
Once  a  start  was  made,  it  was  astonishing 
v  how  many  companies  wanted  to  change  agencies. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


29 


They  showered  in,  and  in  a  month  iny  inexperi- 
ence had  been  imposed  upon  by  half  a  dozen 
specials.  All  they  wanted  at  first  was  an  agency. 
It  required  a  second  visit  to  develop  the  want 
of  business,  and  sometimes  several  to  get  that 
want  supplied.  The  result  was  inevitable;  as 
most  of  them  left  one  over-crowded  agency  for 
another,  they  were  still  on  wheels,  and  dissat- 
isfied with  my  particular  brand  of  dust  on  their 
supplies. 

The  necessity  of  living  by  your  own  efforts 
is  a  powerful  incentive  to  industry.  A  very  few 
may  work  because  they  love  work,  but  most  of 
us  work  because  we  must,  being  born  aristocrats — 
vulgarly  called  lazy.  Necessity  was  the  mother 
of  my  business,  which  increased  as  time  passed 
until  my  leaders  had  a  larger  premium  income 
than  the  oldest  agency  companies  that  had  been 
established  there  "time  to  which  the  memory  of 
man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary."  The  then 
special  of  the  Vesuvius,  now  one  of  her  managers, 
had  occasion  to  change  his  agency,  and  as  it  was 
a  valuable  company,  I  was  an  applicant;  but  he 
passed  me  by  for  a  banker.  This  was  an  instance 


30  MBMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

of  careful  selection,  for  the  banker  shortly  failed. 
The  sign  of  Bank  over  his  portal  was  a  bigger 
humbug  than  my  Insurance  Agency  sign  of  the 
previous  month.  Haec  fabula  docet:  things  are 
not  always  what  they  seem ;  also :  we  take 
chances  even  in  selecting  a  banker.  Why  not, 
since  we  deal  in  probabilities,  not  certainties, 
and  the  laws  of  chance  form  the  basis  of  our 
business? 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


31 


CHAPTER  IV 

OF  THE  TOWN  AND  MY  ASSOCIATES 


ODUNK   CITY  was  the  corporate 
name  of  the  town,  but  it  was  not, 
strictly   speaking,    a  metropolis. 
The  founders   of  many  Western 
villages  were  fond  of  Hyperbole — 
quite  unconsciously,  however,   as   many  of 
them  could  not  distinguish  her  from  Aphro- 
dite if  they  met  her  on  the  street. 

The  plan  of  the  town  was  not  original, 
but  a  fair  copy  of  the  famous  capital  of  the 
Blue  Grass  region  in  Kentucky.  The  type  is 
a  common  one  in  all  the  Southwestern  States. 
A  public  square  ornamented  with  a  dilapidated 
Court  House  and  scrubby  trees;  a  rickety 
fence  decorated  with  mule  teams  and  mule 
drivers,  both  of  the  lazy,  indifferent  type; 
sidewalks  frescoed  with  ambier,  buildings 
sadly  in  need  of  repair,  and  citizens 
over- grown  with  moss. 


32 


M&MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


The  old  settlers  all  came  from  Kentucky.  If 
all  the  Missourians  who  claim  origin  from  the  Blue 
Grass  country  had  never  emigrated,  it  would  be  the 
most  densely  populated  region  on  the  globe.  If  it  is 
as  charming  as  represented,  why  did  they  leave? 
Or,  is  it  possible  that  some  of  them  were  poor 
geographers? 

While  Podunk  was  a  good  field  for  a  moulder 
of  thought  and  a  leader  of  opinion,  the  hope  of 
securing  the  county  printing  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  my  choice  of  location.  After  my  brief 
and  disastrous  career  as  a  publisher,  and  when  I 
enlisted  as  a  recruit  in  the  army  of  insurance 
agents,  I  had  no  choice.  My  free-will  was  dom- 
inated by  my  inability  to  leave,  even  if  I  wished, 
and  the  necessity  of  providing  food  and  raiment 
for  myself  and  family. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  town  grew.  Many 
emigrants  on  their  way  to  Kansas  re-considered 
and  located  with  us  permanently.  The  character 
of  the  buildings  changed,  the  appearance  of  the 
town  changed,  business  opportunities  were  en- 
larged, and  the  effect  on  the  insurance  business 
was  marked. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


33 


While  Podunk  was  moribund,  one  agent  with 
half  a  dozen  of  the  pioneer  agency  companies  had 
supplied  the  needs  of  the  inhabitants,  but  with 
the  increased  importance  of  the  town  other  com- 
panies sought  foothold  with  the  following  result: 
Every  clientless  lawyer  and  estateless  estate  agent 
carried  insurance  as  a  side  line  while  we  others 
practiced  it  for  a  livelihood : 

1  ex-clothier, 

1  ex-publisher, 

1  ex-Kansas  Boomer, 

1  ex-banker, 

2  ex-preachers   —   Campbellite    and 

Methodist, 
1  ex-druggist, 

3  ex-County  officers, 

and  the  above  mentioned  Old  Agent,  who  was 
not  an  ex-,  not  even  an  ex-Confederate  nor  an 
ex-Kentuckian,  but  he  had  the  business  and  we 
wanted  it. 

Covetousness  was  properly  forbidden  to  the 
Jews,  but  under  the  new  dispensation  the  Deca- 
logue is  reduced  to  nine,  and  the  old  tenth  is 
included  in  the  Beatitudes.  Thus  the  moral  code 
is  accommodated  to  the  increasing  demands  of 


34  ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

modern  business,  or  insurance  agents  would  have 
little  show  for  their  white  alley. 

A  load  of  lumber  gave  us  the  same  sensation 
as  the  bread  and  butter  gave  the  scholars  at 
Dotheboys  Hall.  We  knew  there  was  not  enough 
business  to  feed  us  all,  and  each  wanted  to  be  the 
one  served  first.  This  condition  of  semi-starvation 
crowded  me  out  of  a  local  into  a  special  agency; 
sent  one  of  the  ex-county  officers  to  the  peniten- 
tiary;  bankrupted  the  Old  Agent,  but  never  phased 
the  preachers,  probably  because  they  had  been 
inoculated. 

During  one  of  the  rare  intervals  when  the 
local  board  meetings  were  well  attended,  its 
sessions  resembled  a  church  conference  meeting. 
The  trouble  with  us  was,  that,  instead  of  fining 
each  other  for  cutting  rates  when  we  had  a  plain 
case,  we  pouted,  refused  to  attend  the  meetings, 
and  took  personal  revenge  by  stealing  a  line  from 
the  other  fellow  on  the  best  terms  we  could  get. 
I  have  often  wondered  if  the  agents  in  other  towns 
acted  in  the  same  way.  We  had  no  guide  but  our 
consciences,  and  some  of  them  were  so  seared 
that  they  were  not  in  good  working  order. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  35 

CHAPTER  V 

ANTECEDENTS   OF   MY   COMPETITORS 


OU  know  how  and  why  I 
came  to  be  an  insurance  agent, 
and  the  antecedents  of  some  of 
my  confreres  at  Podunk  may  be  inter- 
esting and  serve  as  a  warning  to  others. 
The  ex-clothing  merchant,  who  inci- 
dentally was  of  Hebraic  extraction,  blamed 
the  mice  for  his  misfortune.  It  is  more  than 
passing  strange  that  the  freak  appetite  of  the 
mouse  for  sulphur  matches  should  always  coincide 
with  an  old  stock,  dull  trade  and  pressing  cred- 
itors ;  but  he  denied  having  anything  to  do  with 
it  himself,  and  said  it  must  be  mice  and  matches. 
He  made  more  reputation  as  a  claimant  than  as 
an  agent.  There  wasn't  as  much  money  in  the 
agency  branch  as  in  the  claim  department,  and 
he  soon  abandoned  it.  Further,  deponent  sayeth 
not. 


36  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

The  Campbellite  minister  was  not  really 
unfrocked,  he  was  gently  dropped.  His  charge 
was  in  the  country,  and,  as  the  picking  was 
poor,  he  cultivated  hogs  between  sermons.  It 
was  charged,  and  I  fear,  proven,  that  his  season's 
run  of  sorghum  molasses  was  emptied  in 
the  sand,  and  when  the  hogs  had  eaten  a 
hundred  pounds  or  so  apiece  they  were 
marketed.  This  was  considered  too  much 
of  a  Yankee  trick  for  a  Southern  congre- 
gation ;  and  as  such  abilities  should  not  go  to  waste, 
they  were  utilized  in  his  new  profession. 


The  supply  of  town  lots  in  Kansas  was  never 
exhausted,  but  it  was  said  that  the  Boomer  got 
one  of  the  new  additions  mixed  up  with  a  piece 
of  land  he  held  four  or  five  miles  out.  As  the 
real  values  were  probably  equivalent,  this  wasn't 
much  to  raise  a  row  over,  but  he  emigrated  to 
Missouri,  and  later,  as  a  precautionary  measure, 
to  Arkansas.  There  were  rumors  of  fictitious 
mortgages  floated  on  the  Eastern  market,  but 
they  were  set  a-going  by  the  malevolent,  and 
never  gained  general  credence. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


37 


Before  the  high  license  law  was  enacted 
there  were  seven  or  eight  drug  stores  in  Podunk, 
and  they  all  did  a  thriving  business.  But  when 
Pat  Soakum  and  his  fellows  were  asked  to  pony 
up  a  thousand  semi-annually  in  advance,  they 
became  temperance  advocates.  The  profits  from 
the  sale  of  drugs  alone  would  not  pay  the  rent, 
and  some  of  them  retired,  among  them  my  old 
friend,  who  supplied  my  newspaper  force  with 
medicines  for  years,  in  exchange  for  an  advertis- 
ing bill.  We  settled  accounts  annually,  and 
each  added  say  a  hundred  to  his  bill  to  offset  what 
he  suspected  the  other  would  add,  exchanged 
ratifications,  as  the  diplomats  say,  and  opened  a 
new  account.  He  was  one  of  the  best  fellows 
in  the  business  and  deserved  the  success  he 
achieved. 


We  unfortunately  lost  one  of  the  brightest 
members  of  the  Podunk  Board.  It  is  said  he 
went  to  Canada.  Country  business  was  no  more 
desirable  then  than  now,  and  it  was  sometimes 
necessary  to  meet  competition  to  make  the 
diagram  fit  the  rate,  thus: 


38 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


The  Company  after  a  loss,  refused  to  accept  the 
common  definition  of  detached  as  unattached;  it 
found,  through  inspecting  the  business  closely, 
that  he  had  made  some  mistakes  in  describing 
special  hazards  as  dwellings,  and  threatened  to 
cut  up  over  it,  so  the  poor  fellow  had  to  abandon 
the  profitable  business  he  had  established,  as 
well  as  his  wife  and  family. 

From  these  samples  you  will  see  we  were 
not  so  slow,  we  Podunkers.  If  a  premium 
got  away  with  all  of  us  on  its  trail,  it  had 
to  hustle.  There  wasn't  a  better  insured 
town  in  the  State;  all  the  inhabitants  were 
educated.  Even  the  farmers  had  their  eye-teeth 
cut,  for  the  famous  Col.  Tram  of  Iowa  worked 
Jay  County  for  a  season,  and  he  was  the  equal, 
in  his  special  line,  to  the  entire  Podunk  Board. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


39 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   OFFICE   CLERK 


AVING  been  an  employee  as  well  as  an 
employer,    I   know   something  of  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  a  clerical 
position.     A  scape-goat  is  a  necessity; 
somebody    must    be    responsible    for 
errors  and  mistakes,  and  who   so  convenient  as 
the  clerk? 

The  selection  of  a  clerk  is  like  the  choice  of 
a  business  partner — you  nearly  always  wish  you 
hadn't.  Men  are  usually  employed  in  local 
insurance  offices,  but  my  preference  is  for  the 
feminine.  I  unhesitatingly  recommend  a  young 
woman,  the  prettier  and  more  attractive  the 
better.  There  are  so  many  unpleasant  incidents 
in  the  daily  drudgery  of  life,  that  it  is  a  rest  to 
the  eye  and  the  brain  to  gaze  upon  beauty,  grace 
and  neatness. 

It  is  true  a  woman  can  talk  back,  but  so  can 
a  man,  and  she  cannot  strike  back  while  he  can. 


40  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

She  is  not  too  ambitious ;  does  not  expect  a  raise 
in  salary  over  twice  a  year,  and  is  not  apt  to 
open  an  opposition  office  and  try  to  do  business 
on  your  expirations.  These  are  some  of  the 
reasons  for  my  preference.  An  anonymous  ver- 
sifier has  quoted  more,  and  while  I  adopt  his 
conclusions,  I  refuse  to  accept  his  barbarous 
pronunciation  of  clerk,  which  is  too  much  for 
even  poetic  license. 


Out  of  employment  ?     Can  we  give  you  work  ? 

I'm  sorry,  sir, 
But  we  have  no  use  for  another  clerk 

Since  we  have  her. 

Though  she  is  a  girl,  we  find  she  can  do 
The  work  that  was  formerly  done  by  two; 

Men,  too,  they  were. 

She  does  not  expectorate,  drink  nor  swear 

As  some  men  do; 
Whenever  she's  wanted  she's  always  there 

Till  work  is  through. 

Flirt?    Of  course  she  does,  but  she  does  not  smoke 
Nor  take  a  night  off  and  come  home  dead  broke. 

Not  bv  a 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


41 


She's  honest  and  faithful  as  well  as  cheap 

( Not  half  your  price ) . 
She  is  neat  and  tidy  and  knows  how  to  keep 

Things  looking  nice. 
We  are  satisfied,  sir,  and  do  not  care 
To  discuss  it  further;   as  you  are  aware 

This  should  suffice. 

There  are  some  exceptions.  If  the  agent  be 
young  and  susceptible,  she  is  dangerous.  If  he  be 
old  and  susceptible,  she  is  perilous.  If  he  be  mar- 
ried, his  wife  has  probably  grown  so  accustomed  to 
believing  fibs  she  may  balk  at  the  truth ;  and  while 
a  little  jealousy  is  as  spice  to  married  life,  too 
much  is  worse  than  tobasco  with  a  catsup  label. 

In  any  event,  even  if  it  is  necessary  to  allow 
your  wife  to  select  her,  get  a  girl;  the  plainest 
is  better  than  none,  and  is  not  likely  to  reserve 
the  only  extra  office  chair  for  her  retainers.  The 
specials  will,  of  course,  keep  the  office  supplied 
with  gold  pens,  ink-stands,  and  small  office  knick- 
knacks  usually  charged  to  postage  account,  and 
you  can  amuse  yourself  by  watching  their  culti- 
vating antics  and  listening  to  their  smart  and 
gallant  speech  and  compliments. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A   MISSOURI   RATE 


JMONG  the  perennial  troubles  of 
underwriters,  I  reckon  rates  the 
chief ;  and  while  we  Podunkers 
were  simple  insurance  agents, 
and  did  not  aspire   to 
j|l    be     underwriters,     the 
troubles  mentioned  did 
not  draw  such  fine  dis- 
tinctions.    We   had   our 
full  portion  and  to  spare. 

Following  the  dissolution  of  the  old  National 
Board,  rates  in  Missouri  also  became  dissolute, 
from  force  of  example  probably,  and  one  of  the 
first  good  resolutions  of  the  recently  formed  Union 
was  the  encouragement  of  State  organizations  of 
field  men.  Among  these  the  old  Missouri,  Kansas 
&  Nebraska  State  Board  easily  took  first  rank. 

It  is  now,  because  of  secession  and  legisla- 
tion, only  a  memory,  but  a  pleasant  memory 


(43) 


44 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


withal.  The  old  associations  and  friendships  are 
dearly  cherished  by  the  few  surviving  members, 
some  of  whom  are  still  in  the  field  and  some  of 
whom  wish  they  were  again  in  the  field. 

Rates  were  theoretically  made  by  a  Committee 
of  the  State  Board,  acting  with  and  advising  a 
Committee  of  the  Local  Board,  but  in  practice 
the  State  Board  Committee  found  Garnbrinus  a 
more  pleasant  consulting  associate.  The  Com- 
mittee swallowed  him,  made  the  agents  swallow 
the  rates,  and  all  were  full  if  not  content. 

In  thus  exhibiting  the  inner  workings  of 
rating,  I  am  open  to  criticism  from  a  respectable 
branch  of  the  fraternity  that  does  not  believe  in 
educating  the  public  or  taking  it  into  our  confi- 
dence that  is  so  noisily  advocated  by  some  under- 
writers and  class  journals.  There  are  arguments 
on  both  sides,  and  as  only  one  has  been  heard, 
I  shall  give  the  other  a  line  or  two. 

Stock  fire  insurance  is  business,  not  philan- 
throphy  nor  speculative  philosophy.  Business  is 
conducted  to  make  money.  No  matter  what  the 
subject  the  object  is  the  same.  The  public  under- 
stands this  quite  well,  and  is  interested  in  any 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


45 


business  not  its  own,  only  as  you  and  I  are  inter- 
ested in  the  selling  price  of  clothing,  groceries, 
coal  oil  or  coal.  We  do  not  care  by  what  system 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  figures  its  prices,  but 
we  are  interested  in  the  prices. 

The  public  does  not  weep  because  fire  insur- 
ance was  conducted  at  a  loss  in  any  given  year — 
quite  the  reverse.  It  considers  itself  the  gainer. 
You  do  not  pay  your  railroad  fare  if  you  can  get 
a  pass.  The  cost  of  transportation  does  not  worry 
you  if  your  own  be  only  cheap  or  free.  Yet  rail- 
roads are  public  utilities,  while  stock  company 
insurance  is — plain  ordinary  private  business. 

Consider  for  a  moment  that  you  are  part  of 
the  public ;  reflect  upon  how  little  you  are  inter- 
ested in  your  neighbors'  business,  and  you 
will  concede  the  folly  of  the  proposed  cam- 
paign of  education. 

To  return  from  the  field  of  speculation 
to  Podunk.  It  was  after  the  departure  of 
the  State  Board  Committee  that  rates  were 
actually  equalized.  Pat  Soakum's  saloon 
had  always  been  coveted  by  the  Campbellite 
preacher,  but  he  couldn't  reach  it  alone, 


•VO.SJO 


\r  M 
*" 


169* 


46  MEMOIR  ES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

so  he  took  the  Kansas  Boomer  into  his  confidence. 
The  Old  Agent  was  Chairman  of  the  Board  and 
ex-officio  of  the  rating  committee.  The  two 
worthies  above  were  his  associates  and  Pat's  rate 
was  reduced  from  3%  to  2%  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one. 
The  companies  being  dissatisfied,  they  next 
usurped  the  rate-making  authority,  and  the  third 
factor,  the  compact  manager,  was  born.  He  flour- 
ished for  a  while,  but  this  time  the  people  were 
dissatisfied,  and  they  took  a  notion  to  do  some 
usurping  on  their  own  account.  As  I  think  it 
well  to  leave  something  to  the  imagination,  I  will 
do  so  here  and  allow  the  reader  to  imagine,  if  he 
can,  a  Missouri  Rate  that  was  fathered  by  the 
State  Board,  nursed  by  the  Local  Board,  reared  by 
the  Compact  Manager,  and  tried,  condemned  and 
executed  by  the  legislature. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


47 


CHAPTER  VIII 

REORGANIZING  THE  LOCAL  BOARD 


EVERAIy    committees    of    the 
State  Board   had  failed  to  get 
the  Podtmk  locals  into  line,  so 
Major  Macleur,  the  grand  high 
commissioner    of    Commission 
No.  4,  since  deceased, — the  Commis- 
sion, not  the  Major — was  sent  out  to 
try  his  hand  on  us. 

The  meeting  was  called  by  the  Old  Agent, 
the  greatest  sufferer,  who  unanimously  elected 
himself  Chairman,  and  appointed  me  as  Secre- 
tary. As  the  report  of  the  proceedings  is  copied 
from  my  original  notes,  it  is  accurate  enough  for 
historical  purposes. 

The  Major,  in  his  own  inimitable  way,  made 
us  a  speech,  of  which  the  following  is  the  sub- 
stance; but  its  drollery  is  necessarily  omitted. 
"Now,  boys,  I  have  got  you  together,  and  we 
want  this  devilment  stopped.  There's  only  one 


48 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


way  to  stop  it.  Sign  the  local  board  agree- 
ment, be  honest,  and  we  will  re-rate  the  town 
and  commence  anew.  Bygones  shall  be  by- 
gones, we'll  wash  the  slate  and  start  afresh." 
Motion  put  by  the  Chairman ;  any  remarks  ? 

1st  County  Officer:  "I'm  agin  signin'  any- 
thing till  the  rates  are  made.  If  they  suit  I'm 
agreeable." 

Kansas  Boomer:  "I'm  opposed  on  prin- 
ciple to  surrendering  our  right  to  make  and  re- 
vise the  rates  to  anyone,  and  for  one,  refuse  to 
vote  for  the  motion." 

The  Campbellite  preacher,  who  has  loaded 
up  on  shaded  business:  "I  favor  the  motion. 
Honesty  is  the  foundation  of  our  business.  Let 
the  dead  past  bury  its  dead,  and  let  us  resolve 
here  and  now  to  abide  by  correct  practices  in  the 
future.  I  hope  all  members  present  will  sign  up 
and  join  us  in  an  effort  to  establish  the  business 
on  a  sound  basis,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  ex-Druggist:  "I  agree  with  my  prede- 
cessor, provided  all  agents  are  first  made  to  can- 
cel cut-rate  business.  I  have  lost  too  many  cus- 
tomers to  come  here  and  cinch  them  for  the  other 


A  INSURANCE  MAN 


49 


fellow  by  any  such  action  as  is  proposed.  Re- 
pentance first,  then  absolution  is  my  motion." 

The  Old  Agent:  "Are  there  any  more  re- 
marks on  the  motion?  I  think  I  have  suffered 
more  by  bushwhacking  than  any  of  you,  and  I'm 
plumb  tired  of  it.  If  you  don't  do  something, 
I'll  make  rates  wide  open,  and  see  how  you  like 
it.  My  companies  have  reached  the  limit,  and 
I'm  ready  to  fight.  If  there  are  no  more  remarks, 
all  in  favor  of  the  motion  will  say — " 

The  Major:  "Excuse  me,  Mr.  Chairman; 
before  you  put  the  motion  I  want  to  say  that  there 
is  no  compulsion  about  this.  I  want  to  help  you 
out  of  a  bad  box.  Down  in  Arkansaw  durin'  the 
war,  the  Yankees  had  us  cornered,  and  we'd  been 
livin'  on  parched  corn  for  about  a  week.  The 
General  said  one  day,  'Boys,  I  want  to  help  you 
out.  If  we  stay  here  we'll  starve — even  the 
corn's  runnin'  low.  Who's  willin'  to  make  a 
break?  '  Now,  I'm  the  General,  who's  willin' 
to  follow  me?  " 

Motion  put  by  the  Chairman,  and  carried, 
17  to  2.  The  seventeen  signed  the  constitution 
and  by-laws,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  labor 


50  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

with  the  two  negative  voters.  Their  companies 
finally  forced  them  to  sign,  and  the  Podunk  Board 
was  again  an  entity. 

As  Secretary,  I  am  willing  to  assert  that  it 
was  for  at  least  three  days  after  the  Major  left, 
as  good  a  Board  as  ever  was  sawed.  But  it 
couldn't  stand  the  weather,  and  got  shaky  before 
a  month,  sides  warped  and  ends  split — as  poor 
a  piece  of  lumber  as  ever  sold  for  seconds.  Then 
the  Major  came  again,  and  the  process  was  re- 
peated with  slight  variations;  old  scores  were 
wiped  out  again;  bygones  were  bygones  again; 
we  started  fresh  again — and  finally,  we  busted 
up  again. 

Those  were  good  old  days  just  the  same.  If 
we  didn't  see  all  the  good  in  them  at  the  time, 
it  was  solely  from  lack  of  comparison  with  mod- 
ern conditions,  and  we  may  in  twenty  years,  if 
we  live  so  long,  refer  to  the  present  in  the  same 
terms.  Who  knows? 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


51 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOLICITING   BUSINESS 


VERY  town  has  a  char- 
acter, a  local  celebrity, 
and  Podunk  was  no 
exception.  He  was  a 
half  -  witted  German , 
who  built  with  his  own 
hands  a  reproduction  of  his 
old  country  home,  laboring 
on  it  for  ten  or  fifteen  years. 
He  threw  stones  at  a  storm  cloud  because  it 
interfered  with  his  work,  swore  awful  oaths  in 
mixed  German,  and  was  an  unsociable  brute, 
living  like  a  hermit  on  his  scissors-grinding 
income.  Everything  in  town  but  his  shack  was 
insured,  and  no  one  had  the  nerve  to  tackle 
him  until  the  advent  of  the  clothing  merchant. 
Now  if  a  full- witted  German  is  a  Judenhetzer, 
what  could  you  expect  from  a  half-wit? 


52 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"  Andy,  you  ought  to  have  your  house 
insured.  Let  me  write  it  up  for  you." 

"  My  vat?" 

1 '  Your  house  insured — so  if  it  burns  down 
you  get  pay  for  it." 

"You  burn  my  house  down  if  I  don't  pay 
for  it?" 

"No,  no,  I  want  to  insure  it  so  it  won't 
burn  down." 

' (  Kreutz  !  —  Himmel  !  —  Sackerment  !  — 
Nochemal  !  Get  out  !  I  haf  you  arrested  yet. 
Dots  my  house,  versteh?  My  house.  I  don't 
want  him  to  burn  down  once.  Du  verfliichte 
Jude,  come  'round  tell  me  my  house  burn  down 
if  I  don't  pay  for  it?  I  show  you  once  I  — " 

But  he  didn't  wait  to  be  shown,  even  though 
he  was  a  Missourian.  Andy  followed  him  up  the 
street  with  a  mixed  shower  of  stones  and  curses, 
and  remained  a  celebrity — the  only  man  in  town 
uninsured ! 


The  leading  hardware  merchant  was  my 
neighbor  and  a  crank  on  insurance ,  not  that  there 
was  necessarily  any  connection  between  the  two. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


53 


He  had  a  Vesuvius  policy  twenty-odd  years  old, 
with  twenty-odd  renewal  receipts,  and  thought 
this  antiquated  document  better  than  any  up-to- 
date  policy.  We  used  to  drink  a  bottle  of  seltzer 
on  a  summer  evening  on  my  porch — of  course  I 
furnished  the  seltzer. 

"John,  I  want  a  policy  on  your  stock." 

(I  had  told  him  so  a  hundred  times,  but  he 
either  wouldn't  believe  it,  or  didn't  want  to 
believe  it) . 

"Jones,  my  boy,  I  can't  quit  the  Vesuvius. 
There  isn't  another  policy  in  Jay  County  as  old 
as  mine — " 

1 '  Did  you  ever  study  law  ? ' ' 

"No." 

"Well,  I  have.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  the 
Statute  of  Limitations  ? ' ' 

"  You  bet  I've  heard  of  it!  Old  man  Cowan 
knocked  me  out  of  a  two  hundred  dollar  note — 
Statute  of  Limitations." 

' '  How  much  have  you  in  the  Vesuvius  ? ' ' 

"Five  thousand." 

' '  If  old  Cowan  would  plead  the  baby  act  for 
two  hundred  dollars,  what  could  you  expect 


54  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

from  a  soulless  corporation  with  five  thousand 
involved  ? ' ' 

"By  George!  I  never  thought  of  that. 
Think  they'd  do  it." 

' '  Do  you  know  who  would  adjust  your  loss  ? 
You  know  what  reputations  adjusters  have  ? 
John,  you've  been  taking  chances  long  enough. 
As  an  up-to-date  business  man,  you're  a  failure. 
Let's  finish  this  bottle  and  I'll  write  you  a  policy 
to-morrow  that  will  be  worth  a  hundred  cents  on 
the  dollar." 

Did  I  ?  Of  course.  One  day  his  old  store 
fell  down  and  when  I  refused  to  pay  the  loss,  he 
got  mad  and  went  back  to  the  Vesuvius — but  as 
I  was  a  special  then,  it  didn't  matter. 


Farm  soliciting  was  not  my  forte.  Old  Col. 
Snively  had  a  fine  farm  and  was  uninsured.  I 
had  talked  insurance  to  him  a  dozen  times,  in 
and  out  of  his  cups,  and  finally  got  a  promise 
that  he  would  consider  it.  One  day  I  drove  out 
to  his  place,  about  fifteen  miles,  to  close  the  deal. 

"Hello,  Colonel,  how 're  things?" 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  55 

"  Putty  fair.  Onhitch,  come  in  and  have 
somethin'  to  wa'm  you  up." 

After  I  had  had  something  I  broached  the 
object  of  my  visit. 

"  How  much  did  you  tell  me  it  'ud  cost  ?" 

"  Depends  on  the  amount  and  the  term. 
One-and-a-half  per  cent  for  three  years — say 
seventy-five  dollars  for  five  thousand." 

"Only  seventy-five  dollars?  By  ginger, 
ain't  you  mistaken  ? ' ' 

"  No,  that's  the  cheapest  going  rate." 

"Well  I'll  be  darned.  Look  here,  old  Col. 
Tram  was  out  here  last  week  and  nothin'd  do  but 
I  must  take  a  policy  in  the  American.  Said  it 
wouldn't  cost  hardly  anything,  and  I  didn't  have 
to  pay  for  it  now  nohow,  and  jest  talked  me  into 
it.  Wouldn't  take  no  for  an  answer.  Writ 
me  fer  windstorms  too.  Been  a  powerful  lot 
o'  cyclones  in  these  parts  lately.  You  never 
said  nothin'  'bout  cyclone  insurance  did  you?" 

' '  Cyclone  policies  cost  one  per  cent  more  for 
three  years — can  give  you  combined  policy  for 
two  per  cent — one  hundred  dollars  for  five  thou- 
sand. Have  you  got  your  policy  yet?  " 


56  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

"Sure!  I'll  let  you  look  it  over,  and 
since  you're  here  you  can  tell  me  if  it's  all 
right." 

Cold  comfort  this  for  a  solicitor.  I  had 
worked  him  up,  and  Col.  Train  had  landed  him. 

Ten  thousand !  Fire,  lightning  and  tornado, 
for  five  years.  Premium  four  hundred  dollars; 
ninety  dollars  in  six  months,  and  eighty  a  year 
in  four  annual  installments.  Notes  good  as  wheat. 
The  first  probably  already  discounted,  and  Jones 
in  the  soup.  Served  him  right.  The  next  time 
he  will  not  talk  per  cent  to  a  farmer.  Talk 
money.  Eighty  a  year  isn't  much  for  ten  thou- 
sand, and  decreases  as  payment  is  postponed. 
No,  as  a  farm  solicitor  Jones  was  a  failure.  I 
could  tell  an  untruth  sometimes,  but  not  all  the 
time.  I  charged  my  livery  hire  up  to  experience, 
issued  a  policy  in  payment,  and  abandoned  that 
branch  of  the  business.  I  didn't  want  to  be 
classed  with  Col.  Tram  "nohow." 


How  easy  it  is  to  establish  a  habit,  and  how 
difficult  to  break  it.  As  editor  of  the  Bazoo  no 
one  ever  thought  of  paying  me  money,  and  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


57 


people  expected  to  continue  the  custom  with 
Jones  the  insurance  agent. 

Mrs.  Wheat  was  proprietress  of  the  local 
Millinery  Emporium. 

"Mrs.  Wheat,  I  want  a  policy.  You  used 
to  advertise  with  me.  We  ought  to  be  repre- 
sented on  your  stock.  Can't  I  write  you  one 
for  a  thousand  dollars?  " 

"  Mrs.  Jones  used  to  buy  her  Easter  hat  of 
me  too,  and  you  paid  for  it  in  advertising.  I've 
a  beauty,  Paris  pattern,  that  would  just  suit  her. 
Take  it  along  with  you.  If  she  don't  like  it  she 
can  exchange  it.  Times  are  so  hard  and  money 
is  so  scarce  I  have  to  give  my  insurance  to  my 
customers." 

Now  Matilda  wasn't  what  you  could  call 
cranky  or  finicky,  but  I  knew  my  idea  and  her 
idea  of  a  hat  too  well  to  try  to  reconcile  them, 
and  some  one  of  my  companies  lost  a  good  risk. 


There  is  room  in  this  country  for  another 
line  of  banks.  We  have  enough  National,  and 
too  many  State  institutions.  Their  ideas  on 
finance  are  too  restricted.  What  we  country 


58  ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

agents  need  is  an  exchange  bank,  where  we  can 
convert  harness,  agricultural  implements,  hard- 
ware, building  material,  etc.,  into  New  York 
Exchange.  We  can  always  use  dry — and  wet — 
goods  and  groceries.  Or,  as  the  insurance  com- 
panies reserve  the  right  to  pay  a  loss  in  kind, 
why  not  give  the  Agent  the  privilege  of  paying 
the  premium  in  kind  ?  Such  an  institution 
would  take  in  Podunk  and  Jay  County  like  wild- 
fire. I  think  it  would  be  even  more  catching 
than  a  local  mutual. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


59 


CHAPTER  X 
MEN  i  HAVE  MET 


WAS  clerking  for  the  Old 
Agent  when  I  saw  the  first 
special.  I  shall  never  forget 
him.  He  was  one  of  the 
best  specimens  of  his  class; 
a  man  of  substantial  appear- 
ance, positive  and  forceful, 
but  withal  jolly  and  com- 
panionable ;  neither  too  quiet  nor  too 
loud,  not  a  saint,  but  an  all-around 
human  being.  Though  I  was  not 
in  love  with  the  local  business  when  I  was  a 
clerk,  this  particular  special  impressed  me  as 
occupying  an  enviable  position. 

Who  was  he  ?  He  has  since  left  the 
field,  but  my  notions  of  what  a  special  should 
be  were  based  on  what  he  was.  If  I  had  his 
company  I  would  make  it  a  leader,  and  other 
agents  evidently  held  similar  views,  for  it  was 


60  ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

always   near   the    top    of    the    column    of    State 
business.  

The  visit  of  a  Manager  was  a  rarity  in 
Podunk.  Our  hotel  wasn't  the  kind  a  Manager 
would  choose  to  rest  up  in,  nor  the  town  im- 
portant enough  to  justify  expensive  cultivation. 
But  once  one  of  mine  called,  and  I  confess  that 
I  was  disappointed. 

He  was  the  one  who  wrote  me  long,  fatherly 
letters;  who  closed  two  pages  of  correspondence 
on  the  likelihood  of  fire  in  a  vacant  dwelling, 
with  two  more  pages,  written  cross- wise  in 
horribly  poor  manuscript,  explaining  what  he 
had  previously  dictated.  He  was  so  prolix  and 
convoluted  that  he  forgot  the  thread  of  his  argu- 
ment before  he  got  to  the  point.  He  was  a 
living,  moving,  acting  German  sentence,  with 
the  verb  missing.  From  his  letters  I  had 
pictured  him  far  past  middle  age,  of  a  dreamy, 
philosophical  turn  of  mind,  with  baggy  trousers, 
and  a  silk  hat  of  uncertain  vintage.  Well,  he 
wasn't. 

Had  I  known  that  he  was  only  a  couple  of 
years  older  than  I,  dressed  in  modern  fashion, 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


61 


and  that  he  talked  and  acted  like  one  of  my 
specials,  I  wouldn't  have  stood  his  lectures;  I 
would  have  talked  back.  I  never  had  any  occa- 
sion to  complain  of  him  or  his  correspondence 
afterwards.  He  changed  his  agency. 


One  of  my  companies  conducted  a  farm 
department;  that  is,  it  turned  a  lot  of  solicitors 
out  to  insure  a  farmer  for  twice  the  value  of  his 
property,  and  when  the  invited  and  expected 
happened,  sent  another  man  out  to  pay  him  half 
his  loss.  Yet  it  claimed  there  was  no  money  in 
it,  and  actually  abolished  it  a  few  years  later.  It 
seemed  better  than  a  faro  bank,  and  there  is 
money  in  faro — for  the  banker. 

There  was  a  loss  in  Jay  County  and  the 
adjuster  called  upon  me  for  information.  He  was 
a  large,  gruff,  swaggering  fellow,  the  kind  of  man 
you  would  like  to  whip  if  you  had  a  claim  in  his 
hands.  But  you  would  be  in  doubt  how  to  go 
at  it,  and,  on  reflection,  would  reconsider. 

"Jones,"  in  a  Valentine  Vox  voice,  omitting 
the  Mr.  though  we  were  not  intimate,  "What  do 
you  know  about  Jarvis'  loss  at  Poseyville?  " 


62 


MEMO1RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"Nothing." 

1 '  How  far  is  it  out? ' ' 

"  Eighteen  or  twenty  miles." 

"  All  right,  see  you  when  I  return." 

But  he  didn't,  though  Jarvis  did.  Jarvis 
said  he  accused  him  of  burning  his  house,  threat- 
ened to  have  him  arrested,  frightened  the  children, 
told  him  the  company  was  no  good  anyway,  and 
offered  him  three  hundred  dollars  for  a  thousand 
dollar  policy. 

' '  Did  you  accept?  ' ' 

"Of  course  I  did.  A  law  suit  wouldn't 
bring  me  much  more  if  what  he  said  was  true. 
I  think  I'm  in  luck  to  have  saved  my  life." 

Jarvis  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in 
1889,  and  do  you  know  what  he  did?  He  lob- 
bied for  the  valued  policy  bill  and  took  revenge 
on  the  whole  fraternity  for  the  disreputable 
practices  of  a  small,  a  very  small,  portion. 
Farm  adjusters  and  professional  appraisers  were 
the  authors,  and  though  I  believe  the  bill  was 
not  introduced  over  their  names,  it  bears  their 
imprint. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


63 


Col.  Tram  lived  in  Iowa,  and  only  made  in- 
cursions into  Missouri  at  intervals.  In  some 
parts  of  the  State  the  intervals  were  long,  as  the 
farmers  were  watching  for  him,  and  he  wasn't 
anxious  to  meet  them.  The  Colonel  was  one  of 
the  original  farm  solicitors,  took  pride  in  his 
work  and  never  let  any  man  with  even  a  chicken 
coop  escape. 

Missouri  barns  were  his  specialty.  Ever  see 
one?  Only  a  crib  of  rails,  covered  with  straw, 
but  they  were  every  one  of  them  good  for  a 
premium  and  a  policy  fee.  The  Colonel  carried 
a  portfolio  like  the  assessor,  and  went  about  his 
business  in  a  business-like  way.  Opened  his 
book,  took  out  an  application,  asked  the  farmer 
the  questions  he  thought  would  not  make  him 
suspicious,  and  in  a  matter-of-fact  manner,  shoved 
the  document  over  to  him  and  said:  "Sign!" 

"  What  mought  it  be,  stranger?" 

4 '  Statement  that  the  questions  you  have 
answered  are  true  to  the  best  of  your  knowledge 
and  belief.  Are  they?" 

"They  be." 

"Then  sign!" 


64 


M& 'MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Some  of  them  wouldn't — some  did  and  were 
sorry,  for  lie  was  not  modest,  the  Colonel  wasn't, 
and  the  crops  were  often  too  short  to  buy  gro- 
ceries and  pay  his  note  too,  so  the  grocer  had  to 
wait,  as  the  Colonel's  company  wouldn't. 

These  were  the  good  old  times  my  country- 
men, when  my  business  card  was  equal  to  a 
patent  of  nobility  in  the  country;  when  the 
insurance  agent  was  greeted  with  expressions 
usually  offered  only  to  Deity — the  same  expres- 
sions, but  with  different  inflections. 


INSURANCE 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


65 


CHAPTER  XI 

LOCAL   OBSERVATIONS 


[OUGH  Podunk  was  a  small  town, 
we  had  samples  of  nearly  every 
variety  of  agent — especially  the 
poor  kinds.  We  had  one  who  per- 
sistently cut  the  rates;  more  than 
one  rebater,  and  a  good  many  willing 
to  trade  insurance  for  anything,  no 
matter  what. 

Now,  there  is  a  little  excuse  for  a  rate  cut- 
ter, as  he  is  generally  a  man  who  has  no  business 
to  be  an  agent  "nohow, ' '  cannot  compete  on  equal 
terms,  and  it  follows  if  he  does  any  business  at 
all  it  must  be  secured  by  special  inducement. 
The  railroads  help  out  the  weak,  roundabout 
brother  by  giving  him  a  differential,  and  our  weak 
brother  takes  one,  whether  we  give  it  or  not. 

I  have  often  regretted  my  choice  of  such  an 
unsatisfactory  vocation,  but  from  the  statements 
of  lumber  dealers,  railroad  men,  and  others  sim- 


66 


M£ MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


25  '/. 
•  /O  - 


ilarly  conditioned,  I  have  learned  that  they  have 
tariff  annoyances  equal  to  our  own.  There  are 
rarely  over  half  a  dozen  railroads  competing  on 
nominally  equal  terms  and  agreed  rates  for  the 
business  at  a  given  point.  Do  they  strictly  ad- 
here to  published  tariffs?  Do  the  two  competing 
lumbermen  of  the  village  execute  their  private 
agreements  loyally?  The  number  of  competing 
companies  and  agencies  being  relatively  much 
greater,  is  it  strange  that  some  of  them  should 
seek  the  advantage  most  easily  obtained  by  un- 
derbidding their  fellows? 


But  the  rate  cutter,  bad  as  he  is,  does  not 
approach  the  rebater  in  cussedness.  One  of  the 
Podunk  fraternity  was  especially  noted  for  his 
liberality.  He  had  an  excess  commission  agency, 
and  they  always  seem  to  run  to  rebates.  Their 
income  is  so  much  greater  than  the  average,  that 
they  think  they  can  take  the  assured  into  part- 
nership and  still  come  out  ahead,  but  they  can- 
not. I  never  knew  such  an  agency  that  lasted 
five  years,  but  usually  before  one  dies  another  is 
born.  If  they  should  all  happen  to  die  at  the  same 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


67 


68 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


time,    Podunk    would  be   a  pretty  good  agency 
point. 

I  never  made  any  pretense  to  righteousness. 
I  have  applied  all  the  ordinary  methods  of  cir- 
cumventing my  neighbor,  but  I  was  never  ac- 
cused of  the  assininityof  rebating  my  commission. 
No  reputable  company  asks  for  business  on  such 
terms;  no  reputable  agent  solicits  business  on 
such  terms;  and  no  agent  can  expect  to  succeed 
if  he  loses  his  good  repute  and  represents  com- 
panies without  repute.  If  suicide  be  evidence  of 
insanity,  business  suicide  is  proof  of  imbecility. 
One  is  the  end  of  life;  the  other  of  the  living. 


Nearly  every  agent  has  a  hoodoo  company, 
and  so  had  I.  Of  the  first  seven  risks  I  wrote 
for  this  company,  six  burned  within  the  year,  my 
other  companies  escaping.  The  business  was  of 
good  quality,  but  the  company  was  out  of  luck. 
Without  investigation,  I  was  considered  the  hoo- 
doo, and  the  agency  changed.  As  the  manager 
shortly  lost  his  position,  and  the  special  resigned, 
with  a  large  overdraft,  it  is  possible  that  the  office 
needed  a  rabbit-foot  more  than  the  agent. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  69 

Another  one  of  my  companies  had  a  mana- 
ger whose  vocabulary  was  limited  to  the  two 
words — "Please  cancel."  I  once  sent  him  half 
a  dozen  dailies,  five  good  brick  risks  and  a  frame 
hotel,  a  custom  I  am  told  much  in  vogue.  His 
telegram  and  letter  did  not  mention  the  bricks, 
but  I  supplied  the  omission.  He  cancelled  his 
company  out  of  half  the  agencies  in  the  country, 
and  wound  up  by  having  his  own  engagement  can- 
celled. He  remains  an  ex-manager,  and  though 
many  years  have  intervened,  the  company  has 
not  recovered  its  lost  prestige,  and  may  never  be 
a  factor  in  the  agency  field,  though  its  size,  age 
and  loss-paying  ability  are  in  its  favor.  The 
frame  hotel  still  stands,  a  monument  to  ultra-con- 
servatism. 


Did  you  ever  come  in  contact  with  the  smart 
examiner?  An  agent  cannot  always  distinguish 
between  chronic  dyspepsia,  an  acute  night-off  and 
a  fool  examiner,  but  he  soon  becomes  familiar 
with  the  symptoms .  The  less  the  examiner  knows 
about  the  business,  the  more  foolish  questions  he 
asks,  and  his  impertinent  queries  have  queered 


70  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

more  agencies  in  an  hour  than  a  special  can  fix 
in  a  week.  The  cause,  I  suppose,  is  ignorance 
of  the  local  business  and  local  conditions.  If 
the  office  staff  could  be  recruited  from  the  field, 
as  the  latter  is  from  the  agency  force,  there  would 
be  much  less  friction.  The  next  best  custom  of 
sending  the  examiner  to  the  field  at  every  oppor- 
tunity is  recommended  to  managers,  by  a  local 
agent,  as  a  wise  one. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


71 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    FINANCIAL    PROBLEM 


HIL,B  the  city  agent  has  his 
troubles  and  brokers  (syn- 
onymous terms?)  they  are 
not     comparable     to     his 
country  brothers'  worries, 
foremost  among  which   is 
the  financial  problem .   The 
National   Standard    labyrinth   is   simple   in 
comparison !   What  matter  whether  we  meas- 
ure wealth  by  a  gold  or  silver  unit,  if  we 
lack  the  yard-stick?     And  of  what  use  is  a 
yard-stick  if  we  have  no  cloth? 

It  is  all  very  well  for  the  General  Agent 
to  insist  upon  prompt  remittances.  Instant 
decapitation  of  a  lame  duck  is  also  a  good  rule  for 
a  special,  but,  my  grave  and  reverend  seigneurs! 
have  you  ever  sought  the  cause  of  his  delin- 
quency? Have  you  ever  diagnosed  the  complaint? 


72 


MR  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


I  lxcHA,N<;r  PA.C 
7.  Ex«t5SCHAR 


And  will  you  contribute  your  portion  to  the  cure 
when  the  disease  is  located? 

You  give  your  agency  to  Tom ,  Dick  or  Harry ; 
sometimes  to  all  three.  The  business  is  all  placed, 
the  natural  growth  slow,  but  they  must  have 
premiums  and  cannot  get  them  without  offering 
some  inducement.  To  meet  their  illegitimate 
competition  the  agent  who  has  the  business  must 
demoralize  his  own  customers,  deplete  his  ex- 
chequer, and  ruin  his  future  prospects  by  meeting 
their  offers.  They  promise  to  give  unlimited  time 
credit;  to  divide  commission,  or  even  to  give  away 
the  whole  of  it  to  get  the  business  on  their  books ; 
to  trade  out  the  premiums  as  if  ready  to  open  a 
junk  shop!  They  promise  anything,  having  all 
to  gain  and  nothing  at  stake,  and  unless  your 
agent — who  is  always  the  best  agent — is  willing 
to  sacrifice  his  income  he  loses,  first  his  business, 
then  his  companies,  and  stands  to  lose  his  repu- 
tation, whichever  horn  of  the  dilemma  impales 
him. 

So  long  as  present  methods 
prevail,  just  so  long  will  the  de- 
linquent be  with  us .  Since  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


73 


principals  are  responsible  for  the  excessive  com- 
petition, multiple  agencies,  and  the  over-crowded 
field,  it  is  but  just  that  they  should  occasionally 
suffer;  yet  the  loss  by  defalcation  is  infinitesimal, 
hardly  a  fraction  of  a  percentage,  and  not  half  the 
amount  absorbed  by  postage  overcharges.  This 
should  be  sufficient  evidence  of  the  agents'  finan- 
cial integrity,  and  I  assert  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
shortages  are  the  result  of  misfortune  and  not 
one-tenth  of  design. 

The  reason  is  easily  assigned.  The  Local 
Agents  are,  as  a  class,  superior  men.  There  are 
exceptions,  as  previously  intimated,  and  the  mar- 
vel is  that  the  rule  and  the  exception  have  not 
changed  places.  It  is  a  business  requiring  more 
brains  than  the  weighing  of  sugar  or  the  measur- 
ing of  cloth,  yet  it  does  not  yield  a  revenue  equal 
to  professional  or  mercantile  pursuits .  The  intelli- 
gent, tenacious  energy  required  to  build  up  a  local 
business  would  earn  fame  if  applied  to  the  arts  or 
sciences;  reputation  in  the  professions,  and  wealth 
in  barter.  Few  agents  secure  even  a  modest  com- 
petence, none  get  rich,  and  most  must  be  content 
with  a  bare  living.  What  charm  attracts  and 


74 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


retains  them?  The  only  reward  for  exceptional 
ability  is  the  doubtful  promotion  to  a  special 
agency,  a  change  from  independence  to  depend- 
ence, from  the  comforts  of  home  to  the  discomforts 
of  travel. 

Note  by  the  Editor:  Mr.  B.  P.  Sadlord,  a 
well  known  Denver  agent,  has  made  a  study  of 
the  unequal  division  of  premiums  between  the 
companies  and  the  agents,  with  the  following 
conclusions : 

' '  A  successful  agent  must  be  one  of  the  best 
fellows  on  earth;  has  to  be  with  the  people,  and 
is  expected  to  keep  his  end  up  on  all  occasions. 
A  charity  fund  is  prospected;  the  Local  is  leading 
and  circulating.  An  enterprise  connected  with 
the  welfare  of  the  town  finds  the  Local  on  the 
committee  and  one  of  the  shining  lights.  If  he 
is  not  a  member  of  all  clubs,  he  is  not  in  it.  In 
church  work  he  is  a  leader,  song  singer  and  con- 
tributor. If  a  customer  has  friends  in  trouble,  he 
goes  to  this  same  Local  for  assistance,  which  is 
never  refused. 

"As  a  pall-bearer  he  is  always  in  demand. 
At  the  theater,  prize  fight,  and  political  meeting, 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  75 

he  always  has  a  front  seat;  and  thus  he  goes  on. 
In  all  cases  the  companies  get  the  benefit.  But 
let  him  get  into  trouble;  do  the  companies  pat 
him  on  the  back,  think  of  his  past  record  or  the 
amount  of  money  he  has  made  for  them  by  his 
efforts?  No.  A  special  is  immediately  put  in 
possession  of  the  facts ;  a  settlement  is  required ; 
the  Local's  friends,  relatives  or  bondsmen  are 
called  upon,  and  if  the  companies  don't  get  their 
money  the  Local  goes  in  the  jug.  That  is  busi- 
ness. The  Local  has  customers  who  have  done 
business  with  him  for  a  number  of  years.  Some 
of  them,  unfortunately,  get  into  trouble ;  the  Local 
extends  credit,  and  loses.  Do  the  companies? 
Not  on  your  life !  There  are  many  other  samples 
of  the  Local's  trials  and  tribulations  that  could  be 
given,  but  are  these  not  enough?  Anyhow  they 
show  that  the  business  is  too  much  for  the  $ 
standard  on  the  companies'  side." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  AMERICAN  AGENCY  SYSTEM 


UR  system  of  voting  is  named 
the  Australian  ballot  probably 
because  it  originated  in  Canada. 
Our  Agency  System  is  known 
as  the  American,  possibly  be- 
cause no  other  country  is  will- 
ing to  father  it.  Many  years 
ago,  the  name  described  it 
fairly  well.  There  was  a  time  when  an  agent 
was  all  that  his  Commission  described  him,  but 
that  is  ancient  history.  In  the  golden  age,  he 
selected  his  risks,  reported  his  acceptances 
monthly,  sent  his  principal  a  bordereau  and 
account,  and  was  responsible  for  the  form  and 
details.  Good  men  were  in  demand,  and  only 
the  best  of  the  good  ones  were  employed.  That 
was  before  the  telegraph  and  telephone  made 
Chicago  a  suburb  of  New  York. 


(77) 


78  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

The  progress  and  development  of  forty  years 
have  intervened,  and  though  the  skeleton  still 
exists,  the  heart  is  dead.  One  by  one  the 
ancient  prerogatives  of  the  agent  have  been 
absorbed  by  the  official,  until  the  former  is  but 
a  vehicle  for  the  delivery  of  the  policy  and  the 
collection  of  the  premium.  Judgment  is  elimin- 
ated; responsibility,  respectability,  familiarity 
with  the  local  credit  and  position  of  insurers — 
are  all  sacrificed.  Policy  forms,  riders,  clauses, 
mandatory  rules,  are  prescribed  by  the  office. 
Who  and  what  made  a  broker  of  him  ?  Who  is 
responsible  for  the  passing  of  the  agent  ? 

The  passing  ?  He  has  passed  !  The  shadow 
only  remains,  a  poor  photograph  of  the  original. 
The  manager  or  general  agent  has  assumed  his 
labors,  arrogated  his  judgment,  usurped  his  pre- 
rogatives. From  maps,  diagrams,  ratings,  fire 
records,  mercantile  agencies,  inspection  bureaus, 
he  attempts  to  supply  the  lack  of  local  and  per- 
sonal knowledge.  The  one  time  agent  offers  him 
a  line  on  behalf  of  the  assured.  His  responsi- 
bility ceases  when  the  copy  is  mailed.  His 
clerical  function  is  ended.  His  interest  in  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


79 


risk  is  gone  until  it  expires — he  is  not  even   a 
broker. 

What  will  the  harvest  be  ?  The  crop  will  be 
a  manifold  reproduction  of  the  seed.  The  next 
planting?  Already  there  are  evidences  of  a 
tendency  to  localize  the  general  agent — sub- 
stitute salary  for  commission,  employees  for 
solicitors,  and  exclusive  representation  for  the 
so-called  American  Agency  System.  With  co- 
operative special  work,  co-operative  adjustments, 
co-operative  inspections  in  perspective,  even  the 
special  agency  system  is  in  danger.  As  we 
approach  European  conditions,  we  adopt  Euro- 
pean methods.  The  Golden  Age  is  turned  to 
steel.  The  wheel  is  broken  at  the  cistern. 

Note  by  the  Editor  : — 

The  following  metrical  grumble  is  contrib- 
uted by  a  far  Western  local,  who  is  still  ground 
down  by  the  iron  heel  of  the  Compact.  When 
the  legislature  of  his  State  follows  Missouri's 
lead  and  emancipates  him,  will  he  be  any 
happier  ? 


80  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

I  have  been  a  local  agent,  let  me  see;   since  '62. 

You  may  call  me  an  old  fogy,  and  in  some 
respects  that's  true. 

I'll  not  discard  old  ideas  just  to  take  up  some- 
thing new, 

When  the  old  ones  suit  my  notions. 

I  can  recollect  the  day 

When   the   business    was    conducted   in   a  very 

different  way, 
And  I  venture  the  assertion,  contradict  it  if  you  can 

That  the  old  way  was  the  better.  Time  was 
once,  when  every  man 

Could  not  be  a  local  agent;  brains  were  a  sine 
qua  non; 

Special  training  was  required;  but  these  times 
are  past  and  gone. 

Now  the  forces  are  recruited  from  the  rag-tag 
and  bob-tail 

Of  all  business  and  professions. 

Ruined  merchants;  men  who  fail, 

From  their  faults  or  their  misfortunes,  chiefly 
men  past  middle  age, 

Take  insurance  for  a  Mecca — and  begin  a  pil- 
grimage. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


81 


The   agent's  an   automaton,    can    neither   think 

nor  will; 
With   duties   purely  clerical.       Once   judgment, 

sense  and  skill 
Were  prerequisites  for  agents.     Now  the  bureau's 

hired-man 

Makes  our  rates  with  square  and  compass  on  a 
geometric  plan. 

Everything    is   done    by    schedule,    a   defective 
schedule  too, 

That  rates  reputable  merchants  same  as   a   dis- 
honest Jew 

If  construction   and  exposure  happen  to  be  just 
the  same. 

Should  not  reputation,  standing,  and  a  good  or 
a  bad  name 

Be  considered  in  the  rating?     Mandatory  forms 
as  well, 

Clauses,  riders,  regulations ,  more  of  them  than 
I  can  tell 

Cut  and  dried  for  our  consumption. 

If  the  present  system  lasts 

Agents  will  not  long  be  needed — their  days  now 
are  nearly  passed. 


82  MEM  OI RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

Canvassers    are    their    successors — book    agents 
and  fruit  tree  men 

Ought  to  reap  a  golden  harvest  when  the  era's 
ushered  in. 

When  all  these  new-fangled  notions   have   been 
tried,  and  cast  aside, 

Other  systems  just  as  useless  will  be  trotted  out 
and  tried, 

Until,  from  experimenting,  the  whole  fabric  may 
collapse, 

Then  we    old    style   fellows  will    be  in    demand 
again — perhaps . 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


83 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A   MESSAGE   FROM    THE   FAR   WEST 


NE    hot    summer    afternoon    I    was 
half  dozing  in  the  office,  dreamily 
listening  to  the  buzz  of  the  flies  in 
the    windows,    when   who    should 
enter  but   P.   V.  Wisdom,  an  old 
acquaintance    I    hadn't    seen    for 
years;    in  fact,  I  had  lost  track  of 
him    entirely.        His    intimates 
called   him    "Purely   Virtuous" 
for   short. 

"  How  are  you,  P.  V.  ?  I  hav'nt  seen  you 
nor  heard  from  you  for  ages.  Give  an  account 
of  yourself." 

"  Been  to  Californy  for  the  last  three  years." 
"Fine   climate   they  tell  me.      What   have 
you  been  doing  ?     Home  on  a  visit  ?      Did  you 
get  rich  ?  ' ' 

"I'm  back  to  Missoury  for  good  and  all. 
Got  enough  climate  to  do  me  the  rest  of  my  life, 


84  ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

and  that's  all  I  did  get — except  left — cleaned  out. 
See  you  have  quit  the  newspaper  business  and 
are  in  insurance.  You  still  have  my  sympathy." 

"What  did  you  follow  out  West?" 

"Followed  the  other  fellow's  trail  'bout  as 
you  do  I  reckon:  was  an  insurance  agent." 

"We  don't  hear  much  in  Podunk  about  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Business  out  there  about  the 
same  as  here  ? ' ' 

"The  same?  I  should  say  it  wasn't.  You 
think  you  have  troubles  here?  No  more'n  heat 
rash  to  small-pox." 

This  was  years  ago.  If  P.  V.  were  a  con- 
temporary, he  might  change  his  comparison — 
reverse  it  even.  At  this  point  a  few  of  my  asso- 
ciate agents  had  dropped  in,  and  after  the  usual 
greetings  and  introductions,  he  continued: 

"  In  the  first  place  there's  mighty  few  what 
you'd  call  real  agents  in  Californy.  Most  of  'em 
are  only  subs.  Policies  are  written  in  San 
Francisco,  and  all  an  agent  has  to  do  is  to 
make  out  a  daily  in  pencil,  fire  it  in,  and  back 
comes  the  policy.  Office  in  his  hat  and  pocket. 
It  isn't  a  bad  scheme,  as  it  saves  rent  and  clerks 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


85 


and  lots  of  expense,  but  it  was  a  come-down  for 
me.  About  all  a  fellow  needs  to  know  is  how  to 
get  a  risk,  so  pretty  near  every  man  that  has  one 
or  can  get  one  is  an  agent,  and  it  makes  pickin' 
mighty  slim,  I  tell  you." 

' '  How  are  rates  and  commissions? ' ' 
"Both    'way  up;    that  is,  rates   is  if  they 
don't  cut  'em,  and    commissions    ain't   if   they 
wouldn't  raise  'em — but  they  do." 
"Any  local  boards  out  there?" 
"  No  room  for  'em.     There's  one  big  com- 
pact, covers  the  whole  coast.      They  call  it  the 
P.    I.    U.      They    don't    take    any    chances    on 
honesty.     Have   a  lot  of   clerks  and  stamp  and 
check  the  daily,  and  if  it  isn't  just  right,  they  fire 
it  back  to  you  for  correction." 

1 '  Then  there  isn't  any  chance  to  cut  a  rate? ' ' 
"  There  isn't?  Why,  the  rates  are  made  to 
be  cut,  and  they're  big  enough  to  stand  a  good 
deep  cut,  too.  You  see,  some  company  always 
wants  the  inside  track,  and  it's  easy  to  make 
arrangements  to  send  in  rebates  that  don't  get 
stamped.  Then  another  company  finds  it  isn't  in 
it,  and  goes  one  better  by  passin'  rebates  and 


86 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


coughin'  up  commission  too.  Oh,  if  there's  any- 
thing the  agents  out  there  are  not  on  to  I  never 
heard  of  it." 

' '  This  is  very  interesting,  Mr.  Wisdom, ' '  said 
the  Campbellite  preacher,  who  was  an  attentive 
listener,  "how  are  the  rates  made?" 

' '  They  call  him  a  surveyor,  and  he  belongs 
to  the  compact.  Just  makes  'em  to  suit  himself. 
Prints  'em,  then  tackles  another  town.  They've 
got  rate-making  down  fine,  but  they  don't 
seem  to  be  able  to  stick  to  'em,  that's  the 
trouble." 

' '  We  haven't  any  difficulty  here  on  that  score, 
have  we,  parson?"  said  I;  whereat,  though  it 
wasn't  funny,  everybody  laughed.  It  takes  so 
little  to  amuse  good  humored  people. 

' '  How  are  they  on  remittances? ' '  asked  the 
Kansas  Boomer,  who,  being  a  chronic,  is  most 
interested  in  the  subject  nearest  his  heart. 

"  Oh,  they're  easy.  You  don't  have  to  remit 
till  you  collect,  and  if  you  never  collect  you  never 
remit.  Mark  it  off  to  profit  and  loss  or  something 
or  other.  Trouble  is,  you  lose  your  commission 
if  it's  never  paid." 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  87 

The  Boomer  sighed  a  deep  sigh.  If  it  hadn't 
been  for  the  railroad  fare,  I'm  satisfied  he  would 
have  gone  to  California  instead  of  Arkansaw.  It 
was  an  ideal  land,  a  land  of  promise — to  pay. 

When  the  visitor  was  gone,  and  we  had  time  to 
think  it  over,  not  one  of  us,  the  Boomer  excepted, 
was  anxious  to  emigrate.  The  ills  we  have  may 
be  hard  to  bear,  but  there  are  worse.  The  limit 
has  never  been  found. 

Since  then  there  has  been  a  change  for  the 
better  in  California,  while  Missouri  is  going  from 
bad  to  worse  all  along  the  line ;  the  trial  by  fire 
has  had  a  good  effect  on  the  Coast.  Many  of  the 
old  abuses  have  been  abolished.  Rates  are  down, 
commissions  are  down,  expenses  are  down.  If 
Wisdom  had  an  agency  there  now,  he  might  be 
happy  yet ;  but  he  stayed  in  Missouri  and  never 
returned. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  VISIT  TO  TEXAS 


I  HEN  I  was  an  editor  and  had 
little  use  for  them,  I  had 
annual  passes  on  all  the  rail- 
roads, in  exchange  for  adver- 
tising. When  I  wanted  and 
needed  transportation  as  an 
insurance  agent,  I  could  not 
get  it.  Thus  what  we  do  not 
want  comes  easily,  and  what 
we  need  is  hard  to  get.  Matilda  had  relatives  in 
Cleburne,  Texas,  and  took  a  notion  she  wanted  to 
visit  them,  and  when  a  woman  gets  an  idea  into 
her  head,  nothing  is  impossible;  even  poverty  is 
not  an  unsurmountable  barrier.  After  a  deal  of 
begging  and  wire-pulling  I  secured  trip  passes 
and  gratified  her  wish. 

Wisdom's  tale  was  proof  that  the  companies 
varied  their  methods  and  practices  according  to 
locality.  In  my  inexperience  I  had  supposed, 


(89) 


90 


MEMOIR  ES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


being  under  one  management,  that  all  the  States 
were  a  good  deal  alike;  but  I  had  changed  my 
opinion  and  expected  to  learn  something  new  in 
Texas.  For  once,  the  expected  happened.  If 
California  was  wide  open,  Texas  was  at  the  other 
extreme,  and  I  was  more  satisfied  than  ever  to 
stick  to  Podunk  after  my  trip  south. 

In  the  first  place,  there  were  only  two  or  three 
agents  in  Cleburne,  which  was  good  for  the  two 
or  three  that  had  the  companies,  and  they  were 
pretty  good  men,  for  Texas,  as  far  as  I  could 
judge.  The  one  that  had  most  of  the  companies, 
Netherwood,  I  think,  was  the  name  he  had 
assumed,  was  suspected  of  having  a  record.  Some 
said  his  graveyard  had  three  occupants,  some 
said  more;  but  he  was  as  mild  mannered,  quiet 
and  pleasant  as  the  Methodist  preacher  at  Podunk. 

I  soon  got  acquainted  with  him,  and  one  day 
while  I  was  loafing  in  his  office  he  got  a  telegram, 
and  as  soon  as  he  had  read  it,  he  began  to  swear. 
I  asked  him  what  the  trouble  was,  supposing,  of 
course,  it  was  an  order  to  cancel  a  policy,  as  I 
never  received  a  telegram  with  anything  else  in 
it.  He  handed  it  to  me  and  I  read:  "Meet  me 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


91 


at  hotel  to-night  with  the  register,"  signed  some- 
body, a  special  agent.  I  did  not  see  anything  to 
swear  about,  but  Netherwood,  the  agent,  did.  I 
handed  it  back  to  him,  said  as  much,  and  he  gave 
me  some  information,  about  as  follows: 

"It's  his  cussed  impudence  that  riles  me. 
In  this  Godforsaken  town  the  specials,  and  the 
companies  too,  seem  to  think  they  have  an  over- 
due mortgage  on  the  earth,  with  a  right  to  fore- 
close any  day.  We  have  to  beg  its  pardon  for 
living.  The  smart- Alec  specials  travel  in  couples, 
or  quartettes,  work  the  society  racket,  play  poker 
all  night,  and  don't  consider  a  local  any  more 
than  they  would  a  dog.  Whistle  to  us  and  if  we 
don't  run  there's  the  devil  to  pay." 

"  There  must  be  a  cause — what  is  it?  They're 
sweeping  the  streets  for  agents  and  business  up 
in  Missouri." 

"  O,  the  reason  is  all  right,  I  suppose.  They 
don't  make  any  money,  and  are  independent, 
damned  independent.  The  State  Board  is  a  close 
corporation,  they  all  pull  together,  and  if  a  fellow 
tries  to  play  one  against  the  other  they  always 
catch  him  at  it.  I'd  like  to  be  in  business  in 


92 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  93 

some  town  where  there  wasn't  any  fires,  or  where 
there  wasn't  so  many.  I'd  like  to  be  the  big  dog 
awhile  myself." 

While  the  Texas  way  had  some  advantages, 
I  would  rather  suffer  a  little  from  too  much  com- 
petition than  to  be  under  so  much  restraint.  It 
is  more  consoling  to  the  pride  to  have  the  special 
cultivate  me,  than  for  me  to  cultivate  him.  I  do 
not  know  whether  the  whole  State  was  like  Cle- 
burneor  not;  if  it  was,  the  companies  had  a  warm 
time,  for  there  was  a  fire  nearly  every  day.  The 
agents  were  almost  as  independent  as  the  com- 
panies, and  would  not  deliver  a  policy  until  the 
premium  was  paid,  another  point  where  they  had 
the  advantage  of  Podunk.  But  take  it  altogether, 
Missouri  suited  me  better  than  Texas. 


EXPECTATION 


THE  SPECIAL 


KEALIZATION 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCES   THE   SPECIAL 


HE  life  of  a  country  agent  is 
monotonous  and  matter-of- 
fact.  I  cannot,  even  from  the  dis- 
tance of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  crown 
the  daily  routine  with  a  halo  of  romance . 
The  fete  days  were  marked  by  the 
arrival  of  some  special,  but 
even  these  sometimes  ended  in 
mourning  because  of  the  sud- 
den demand  for  an  overdue  account.  Thus  pleasure 
and  pain  march  through  our  lives ,  hand  in  hand ; 
we  never  know  when  the  smile  may  hide  a  tear, 
when  joy  may  end  in  sadness. 

The  business  being  limited,  I  had  many  hours 
of  enforced  idleness.  During  these  intervals  my 
thoughts  were  not  always  as  quiescent  as  my  limbs , 
and  fancy  explored  regions  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  Podunk.  Shortly  after  I  had  learned  to  write 
a  dwelling  house  form  that  was  not  returned 


(97) 


98 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


for  correction,  ambition — despite  the  warning  of 
Caesar's  fate — whispered  Special  Agency  in  my 
ear.  My  abilities  should  not  be  confined  to  the 
narrow  limits  of  Jay  County  even,  and  the  more 
I  considered  the  attractions  of  a  fixed  salary  and 
an  expense  account,  the  more  alluring  they  grew. 

I  had  met  many  kinds  of  Specials,  and  despite 
my  fund  of  native  modesty,  which  had  been  aug- 
mented by  my  newspaper  experience,  I  felt  equal 
to  the  apparent  labor  required. 
The  usual  methods  of  cultivat- 
vating  the  agent  were 
especially  attractive. 
Have  a  cigar?  Take 
lunch  with  me?  Want 
to  go  to  the  theater  to-night?  What '11  you  take? 
interspersed  with  an  up-to-date  collection  of  road 
stories  did  not  seem  difficult  as  long  as  Jones 
didn't  have  to  pay  the  freight. 

As  soon  as  my  fellow- sufferers  at  Podunk 
understood  that  I  was  a  candidate,  they  all  rec- 
ommended me.  I  never  considered  it  judicious 
to  analyze  motives  too  closely.  A  good  action 
frequently  serves  a  selfish  end,  as  in  this  instance. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


99 


Like  Joseph's  brethren,  they  expected  to  divide 
my  raiment  as  soon  as  I  was  out  of  the  way.  The 
preachers  were  especially  solicitous,  as  they  were 
the  natural  residuary  legatees  of  my  best  custom. 

To  the  country  local,  who  would  be  a  Special, 
a  word  of  advice.  If  you  cannot  see  your  way  to 
the  end  by  working  some  company,  try  general 
cussedness.  Make  it  so  warm  for  the  business  that 
they  will  all  want  you  removed,  and  consequently 
work  for  your  removal.  If  you  are  intelligently 
active,  some  company  may  hear  of  you  and  employ 
you  upon  general  principles. 

My  insurance  godfather  was  a  Special  of  long 
experience  and  had  the  usual  aversion  to  country 
town  agencies.  He  considered  he  was  squandering 
too  much  of  his  time  and  abilities  upon  them,  and 
induced  the  manager  of  the  Cataract  to  permit  him 
to  employ  an  assistant.  Accident  and  the  recom- 
mendation of  a  good  friend — a  local  of  course — 
directed  his  attention  to  me,  and  as  a  result  I  was 
turned  out  to  graze  upon  the  high  grass  localities. 
I  traded  my  agency  for  a  promissory  note ;  became 
surety  for  my  successor  and  paid  his  indebtedness 
to  the  companies  thereunder  in  due  time.  With 


100 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


high  hopes  I  was  immediately  transformed  into  a 
knight  of  as  large  a  grip  as  an  inexperienced 
traveler  ever  carried.  All  that  remained  of  my 
local  agency  was  the  promissory  note  (I  have  it 
yet),  and  some  experience  as  a  solicitor  that 
promised  to  boom  the  Cataract's  business  in  the 
country  agencies  of  Missouri  and  Kansas. 

My  income  was  doubled.  When  the  exhilara- 
tion incident  to  promotion  had  disappeared  and  I 
could  give  my  finances  close  attention,  I  found 
my  expenses  had  increased  in  still  greater  propor- 
tion; instead  of  making  money,  the  Special  was 
poorer  than  the  local.  This  was  a  condition  at 
variance  with  all  my  theories,  and  subsequent 
attempts  at  reconciliation  have  failed.  With  every 
increase  in  salary  there  has  been  a  corresponding 
growth  in  expenditures.  The  surplus  of  the 
employe  as  well  as  of  the  Company,  depends  more 
upon  the  outgo  than  the  income. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


101 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   NEW   MAN 


I  SB  your  judgment.  You  will  find 
out  what  is  necessary  to  be  done 
when  you  get  there,"  was  all  the 
instruction  Goodword  ever  gave 
me,  which,  at  the  time,  seemed 
to  me  rather  attenuated  advice. 
After  ten  years'  experience  on  the 
road  I  have  altered  my  opinion. 
Judgment  is  the  one  necessity — of 
men,  of  things,  of  time,  of  place; 
whom  to  select  and  when,  how  and  where  to 
approach  him .  A  hundred  Specials  can  name 
the  best  man;  ten  can  get  into  his  agency, 
but  only  two  or  three  can  get  his  business. 
It  follows  that  the  remainder  must  appoint  second 
or  tenth  choice,  or  get  second  or  tenth  choice  of 
business;  sometimes  both. 

My  difficulties  commenced    as    soon  as   my 
new  connection  was  announced.     Feminine  like, 


102 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Matilda  Jones  had  her  notions  of  the  marriage 
contract,  and  was  not  pleased  with  the  new 
arrangement.  As  her  opposition  could  not  be 
attributed  to  jealousy,  it  was  probably  due  to  a 
distorted  imagination.  Whatever  the  cause  (and 
I  do  not  pretend  to  analyze  female  humors  or  fore- 
bodings) ,  she  objected  to  a  traveling  husband.  I 
conquered  at  the  first  bout,  but  I  had  to  fight  the 
battle  anew  every  trip.  Matilda  wouldn't  stay 
conquered,  which  I  am  told  is  one  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  sex. 

To  the  new,  all  things  are  new.  New  suit, 
new  business  cards,  and  new  valise,  twice  as  large 
as  necessary.  Like  fresh  paint  every  one  touched 
me  to  test  the  truth  of  the  sign,  found  me  adhesive 
and  passed  me  up.  I  was  asked  for  authorizations 
on  prohibited  risks;  to  solve  conundrums  that 
would  stump  the  undauntable  Sexton.  My  judg- 
ment was  solicited  on  frame  range  rates,  and 
applauded  only  when  I  advised  a  reduction.  I  was 
asked  more  questions  in  a  month  than  the  dean 
of  the  corps  could  answer  correctly  in  a  year.  At 
first  I  wired  for  instructions,  but  as  the  reply 
was  invariably,  "Use  your  judgment,"  I  soon 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


103 


learned  to  imitate  my  associates ;  that  is,  I  looked 
wise ,  filtered  wisdom  through  platitudinous  meshes , 
and  never  admitted  there  was  anything  connected 
with  the  business  that  I  could  not  master. 

Nor  did  my  troubles  end  with  the  locals. 
While  there  is  not  as  much  esprit  de  corps  among 
Specials  as  in  the  military  or  trades  unions,  it 
still  exists .  It  was  manifested  by  personal  actions , 
varied  by  personal  views,  but  present  and  apparent. 
I  was  considered  a  local,  not  an  agent  of  a  com- 
panion Special,  consequently  an  interloper,  and 
treated  accordingly.  There  were  exceptions,  and 
they  occurred  among  the  older  field  men,  who 
welcomed  me  to  their  ranks,  encouraged  me  by 
advice,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  friendships 
that  have  continued  uninterruptedly  to  the  present 
time.  While  jokes  and  quips  at  the  expense  of  a 
greenhorn  may  tickle  the  perpetrators,  the  amuse- 
ment does  not  counterbalance  the  loss  of  dignity. 
The  greenest  timber  is  seasoned  by  time  and  the 
elements,  but  the  scar  of  the  woodman's  axe  is 
never  effaced. 

One  of  the  difficulties  of  an  inexperienced 
man  is  his  expense  account.  I  have  rarely  heard 


104 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


a  Special  whose  education  was  finished,  complain 
of  his  inability  to  strike  a  balance,  but  the  neophyte 
must  learn  this  by  practice  as  he  learns  penny  ante 
(an  acquisition  indispensable  in  some  fields) . 
They  are  convoluted,  and  the  mastery  of  one  pre- 
supposes acquaintance  with  the  other.  Billiards, 
cigars,  entertainments,  and  numerous  similar  items 
are  a  serious  drain  upon  the  salary  of  the  new 
man,  as  their  connection  with  the  hotel  bill  is  not 
apparent  to  the  unassisted  sight.  In  a  few  months 
he  acquires  a  mysterious  occult  vision,  and  sees 
things  he  never  dreamed  of  before. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


105 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   STATE   BOARD 


OODWORD,    who    had    been 
responsible  for  me 
up   to    this   time, 
crowned  his  work  by 
introducing  me  at  the 
first   meeting    of    the 
State  Board.      I  paid 
my  tuition,  signed  the 
Constitution,  became  a 

full-fledged  member  of  the  guild,  and  was  made 
chairman  of  the  rating  committee  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Congressional  District,  which  included 
Podunk  within  its  boundaries.  I  never  knew  why 
our  divisions  were  made  upon  political  lines,  but 
presumably  it  was  because  it  created  enough  dis- 
tricts to  go  around  and  thus  prevented  jealousies. 
I  was  so  proud  of  my  rapid  recognition  that  for 
six  months  I  gave  quite  as  much  time  to  board 
work  as  to  the  Cataract's  business.  Jones  was 


106 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


SOODWORD 

THE  OPTIMIST 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


107 


getting  his  education,  as  usual,  at  the  Company's 
expense. 

One  of  my  first  observations  at  the  meeting  of 
the  State  Board  was  the  importance  of  Podunk. 
It  was  used  to  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale ;  held 
up  as  a  horrible  example,  or  cited  as  a  model. 
Whenever  they  ran  short  of  subjects  to  cuss  or  dis- 
cuss, Podunk  was  whistled  for,  and  like  a  sailor's 
breeze,  carried  the  meeting  along  under  full  sail. 

How  short  is  an  insurance  generation.  While 
a  few  patriarchs  survive,  most  of  us  are  of  few 
days  and  full  of  trouble.  The  then  President  and 
Secretary  of  the  State  Board,  Alf.  Bennett  and 
Herb.  Low,  have  both  long  since  passed  from  the 
scene,  and  been  forgotten  by  all  but  the  old  guard. 
Even  the  old  guard  has  been  reduced  by  death, 
retirement  and  promotion  until  less  than  half  a 
dozen  survive. 

We  had  no  jurisdiction  over  the  large  cities. 
St.  Joe  was  the  limit,  and  even  she  disputed  our 
authority  to  interfere  with  her  scraps;  but  the 
smaller  cities  and  towns  were  kept  well  in  hand, 
necessitating  frequent  committee  visits,  a  good 
deal  of  work,  and  not  a  little  diplomacy.  The 


108 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


agents  all  had  an  axe  to  grind,  and  wanted  us  to 
turn  the  stone;  but  generally  the  rates  we  pro- 
mulgated were  equitable  and 
satisfactory  to  both  agents 
and  policy  buyers. 

No  better  training  school 
for  a  Special  could  be  imag- 
ined. He  became  familiar 
with  the  construction  of  the 
towns  and  the  standing  of  the 
principal  business  men;  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  agents, 
and  an  expert  upon  rates  and 
rate  making,  as  then  under- 
stood. I  have  done  a  little  board  work  in  several 
Western  States,  and  regret  that  the  same  curri- 
culum is  not  open  to  the  young  man  of  the  present 
generation.  It  improved  both  the  man  and  the 
business.  The  time  was  well  spent,  and  the 
results  quite  as  satisfactory  under  the  old  system 
as  under  the  present  one,  while  less 
provocation  was  furnished  for  restrictive 
legislation.  There  were  no  compacts  to 
abolish. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


109 


One  of  the  reasons  why  I  am  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  field  men's  associations  is  the  excellent 
resultant  co-operation.  It  is  quite  easy  for  the 
managers  to  assure  each  other  of  their  hearty 
co-operation  and  just  as  easy  to  forget  the  assur- 
ance until  the  subject  is  gray- whiskered.  They 
not  only  can  wear  out  the  complaint  with  delay, 
but  they  have  done  so,  and  have  been  suspected 
of  designedly  evading  their  obligations. 

The  field  man  cannot  afford  to  do  this.  He 
is  in  constant  contact  with  his  associates,  and,  if 
he  establishes  a  reputation  of  this  character,  it  r 
reacts  upon  his  business.  Some  one  of  his  agents 
is  met  every  day  by  some  one  of  the  boys,  and 
even  without  any  preconcerted  plan,  how  natural  it 
is  to  greet  the  local  with  such  deprecatory  remarks 
as  these,  when  they  see  the  sign  on  the  wall: 

"  Oh,  you  are  the  agent  for  the  Eastern,  are 
you?  " 

' '  I  didn  't  know  you  represented  the  Eastern. ' ' 

' '  Whatever  induced  you  to  take  the  Eastern 
agency?  " 

''Well,  I  didn't  suppose  you  would  represent 
the  Eastern." 


110 


M£ MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Such  remarks  and  innuendoes,  shrugs  and 
winks  to  each  other,  cause  an  agent  to  think,  and 
neither  increase  the  popularity  of  a  company  nor 
help  its  business.  The  punishment  is  so  swift 
and  sure  that  many  recalcitrants  have  seen  a  new 
light,  and  changed  their  methods  from  necessity. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


111 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  DELINQUENT  AGENT 


O  more  disagreeable  work  is  assigned 
to  a  Special  than  the  collection  of 
delinquent  balances.     The  agency 
book  showed  for  Circleville,  Janu- 
ary  business,    $46.00;    February, 
$92.00;  March,  $18.00.     I  found 
an  agent  whom  I  thought  would  be 
a  business-getter  early  in  January,  and  was 
patting  myself  on  the  back  when  I  got  a 
letter  from  the  office.     'Twas  ever  thus. 
I  never  congratulated  myself  upon  being 
devilish  cute  but  something  turned  up  to 
dampen  my  ardor.     This  is  the  letter: 

"  CHICAGO,  April  20,  1884. 
NAT  H.  JONES,  S.  A.»  PODUNK,  Mo., 

DBAR  SIR:  Agent  I.  M.  Pudent  at  Circleville 
returns  our  draft  for  January,  balance  $38.60,  with  a 
memorandum  by  the  bank  'no  attention.'  He  owes 
us  in  addition  $77.45  on  February  account,  now  over- 
due, and  fails  to  cancel  policy  5018,  covering  on  a 
second-hand  stock,  premium  $18.00  in  March,  which 


112  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

we  have  repeatedly  asked  him  to  take  up.  He  appears 
to  be  an  undesirable  agent,  and  when  you  appoint  his 
successor  please  take  more  care  in  your  selection. 
Please  give  the  matter  your  attention  at  first  oppor- 
tunity, and  oblige, 

Yours  truly, 

S.  I.  SWART  WOOD, 

Manager. 

This  was  cheerful  news,  but  I  made  the  best 
of  it,  and  started  for  Circleville  at  once.  I  found 
Pudent  in  his  office  with  his  feet  on  the  table  and 
sucking  at  a  cob  pipe  filled  with  long  green. 

"Hello,  Jones,"  he  said,  indolently  untang- 
ling his  feet.  "Wasn't  looking  for  you  again  so 
soon.  What's  up?" 

"I  got  a  letter  from  the  office  about  January 
balance,  and  as  I  was  going  to  Sedalia  anyway,  I 
stopped  off  to  see  what  was  the  matter." 

"I  never  have  paid  and  never  will  pay  a  sight 
draft,  that's  what's  the  matter,"  bristling  up  like 
a  cat  at  a  strange  dog  in  the  yard. 

"All  right,  then,  as  I  am  here  you  can  fix  it 
with  me,  and  you  had  better  include  February  in 
the  check  while  you  are  at  it." 

"If  you  get  it  before  I  do,  let  me  know,  will 
you? ' ' 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


113 


Human  nature  can  endure  many  things  more 
patiently  than  impudence.  I  was  six  feet  at  six- 
teen and  wasn't  any  less  at  thirty,  and  when  I  got 
through  with  him  he  tied  up  our  supplies  nicely, 
dusted  the  sign,  borrowed  the  January  balance 
from  somebody,  and  cancelled  the  February  and 
March  policies.  This  was  the  second  time  my 
early  education  was  adapted  to  the  business. 

This  was  an  extreme  case.  I  have  often 
assisted  the  agent  to  raise  the  money,  have  visited 
relatives  in  the  country,  driven  fifty  miles  to  see 
an  old  friend  who  might  lend,  have  found  money 
for  chattel  loans,  and  once  was  a  bar-keep  in  a 
Kansas  joint  until  the  till  relieved  the  local 
stringency.  This  was  also  an  extreme  case. 
When  coaxing,  cajoling  and  soft  words  are  in- 
effective; when  the  sureties  are  stubborn;  when 
all  ordinary  efforts  fail,  the  prison  is  pictured  in 
all  its  horrors,  and  when  threats  avail  not,  they 
are  executed,  though  fortunately  such  measures 
are  rarely  necessary. 

Some  day  when  the  business  is  reduced  to  an 
exact  science,  all  the  annoyances  will  be  elimin- 
ated. Then  the  Special  will  not  grumble — there 


114 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


will  be  no  Specials.  The  adjuster  will  not  com- 
plain— there  will  be  no  adjusters.  The  manager 
will  not  lose  his  temper — there  will  be  no  man- 
agers .  Only  good  agents  and  happy  shareholders 
in  Utopia. 

We  are  sailing  for  Utopia,  across  the  unknown 
seas ; 

The  rudder's  gone,  the  masts  are  down,  the 
skipper's  ill  at  ease; 

He  has  lost  his  charts  and  compass,  and  the  navi- 
gator's ill, 

The  scurvy  crew  is  mutinous  and  threatens  to 
rebel. 

With  breakers  port  and  starboard  and  rocks  on 
every  hand, 

We've  lost  our  course  and  reckoning,  and  almost 
lost  our  sand. 

We  are  sailing  for  Utopia,  the  region  of  the  blest, 
Where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the 

weary  are  at  rest; 
Where  there  are  no  legislators — no   taxes  to  be 

paid ; 

Where  political  examiners  have  never  made  a  raid ; 
Where  dividends  are  guaranteed — and  premiums 

abound ; 
Large,  fat   and   juicy  premiums,   enough  to   go 

around. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  115 

We  are  sailing  for  Utopia — if  ever  we  arrive, 
How  many  of  the  middlemen,  the  voyage   will 
survive? 

Where  every  one  is  honest,  no  necessity  occurs 
For  adjusters,  special  agents,  or  even  managers. 
Though  present  ills  are  hard  to  bear,  there  may 

be  worse  in  store. 
Shall  we  stand  by  the  derelict,  or  jump,  and  swim 

ashore? 


CHAPTER  V 
PLANTING  AN  AGENCY  IN  MISSOURI 


ET  me  introduce  myself, 
Col.  Moore;  I  am 
Jones,  Special  Agent 
of  the  Cataract  In- 
surance Co."  Col.  Moore,  who  is  a  North 
Missouri  Justice  of  the  Peace,  portrays  his 
part.  No  collar,  silk  hat  of  uncertain  date, 
spattered  shirt  front,  short,  baggy  trousers, 
and  sockless  feet.  He  pushes  his  specs  to 
his  forehead,  wipes  his  watery  eyes  with  a 
bandana,  and  says: 
"Well?" 

"I'm  looking  for   an  agent  and  have 
been  referred  to  you." 

"What  d'ye  wanta  change  fer?" 
"  I  do  not  want  to  change.  The  Cata- 
ract has  never  been  planted  here ,  and  I  wish 
to  get  an  opening.  The  town  is  growing 
and  appears  to  be  a  desirable  agency 
point." 


(117) 


118 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"  'Umph  See  here  young  man,  I've  got 
more  companies  'n  I  can  use.  ;  They  'es  more  com- 
panies 'n  risks  here  now,  an'  more  agents  too.  I 
couldn't  do  nothin'  fer  you  nohow." 

Drops  his  spectacles,  takes  a  fresh  chew, 
coolly  turns  his  back,  and  considers  the  interview 
ended. 


"  Mr.  Smartweed,  my  name  is  Jones,  Special 
agent  of  the  Cataract  Insurance  Co.  I  am  looking 
for  an  agent,  and  you  are  recommended." 

Smartweed  runs  the  local  paper,  and  when 
the  horse  bill  season  is  ended,  practices  insurance 
to  help  out. 

"  Hello!  Jones  of  the  Podunk  Bazoo?  Met 
you  at  Jefferson  in  '80  at  the  State  Editorial  Con- 
vention. Don't  you  remember  me?" 

Of  course  I  remembered  him,  now  he  men- 
tioned it,  but  hadn't  he  changed  his  appearance? 
No,  same  old  Smartweed.  Wasted  an  hour  on 
reminiscences — found  he  only  wrote  his  own  plant 
(chattel  mortgaged) ,  but  if  I  would  be  satisfied 
with  half  of  it,  he  would  take  us  in.  Would  like 
to  do  business  with  an  old  acquaintance,  etc.,  etc. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


119 


My  next  call  was  upon  Mr.  Chitty,  in  Black- 
stone  &  Kent's  office.  I  had  had  an  application 
from  him  a  couple 'of  months  before.  He  was  a 
student  and  expected  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar 
next  spring.  Found  eight  glass  signs  on  the 
walls  and  half  a  dozen  tin  ones  on  the  stairway. 
Usual  preliminaries.  Of  course  he  would  take  the 
Cataract.  Said  he: 

"  I  intend  to  have  the  largest  agency  in  town. 
I  have  nine  or  ten  companies  now,  and  if  I  can 
get  the  Home  and  the  Aetna  and  the  Phcenix  and 
a  few  more,  I  will  do  all  the  business  in  town. 
They'll  have  to  come  to  me  if  I  once  get  them 
corralled." 

In  the  two  months  he  had  issued  three  or  four 
$200  dwelling  policies,  but  his  expectations  were 
too  great.  We  might  want  each  other,  but  we 
didn't  need  one  another. 


"Mr.  Hardcasein?" 

A  sour  visaged,  dyspeptic  little  man  acknowl- 
edged that  he  was  in.  Wasn't  in  the  insurance 
business  for  his  health.  Rates  were  too  high 
any  way.  What  commissions  could  we  pay?  No, 


120 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


wasn't  any  money  in  the  business  at  fifteen  per 
cent.  His  signs  were  not  displayed.  From  a  list 
I  found  that  he  had  all  the  notorious  rate  cutting 
and  excess  commission  companies  in  the  State. 
As  I  couldn't  get  a  fifteen  per  cent  agreement  from 
him  in  any  event,  he  was  barred,  even  if  he 
wanted  the  Cataract — but  he  didn't. 


•U7i»7».ll«  Tiri 


A  day  wasted  for  I  was  whitewashed.  Should 
I  stay  over  and  try  it  again?  I  had  seen  every 
man  who  had  companies,  and  must  look  up  a  new 
man  if  I  got  in  at  all.  Yes  ;  it  was  better  to  have 
my  supplies  there  for  the  next  visit  ;  it  was  easier 
to  change  an  agency  than  to  plant  a  new  com- 
pany. A  dead  agency  was  better  than  none. 
After  supper  I  met  the  County  Clerk,  and  per- 
suaded him  to  accept  the  great  distinction  I  was 
ready  to  confer.  He  did,  and  may  be  agent  yet 
for  all  I  know.  I  never  had  to  collect  a  balance 
h*Mi2«iS  from  him  while  I  was  with  the  Cataract,  for  his 

Till*? 

page  on  the  agency  book  was  never  marred  by  a 
figure  . 

This  is  a  sample  day's  work.     If  you  find  a 
man  who  wants  you,  take  care.     If  you  investi- 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


121 


gate,  you  will  probably  find  you  do  not  want  him. 
There  were  a  few  towns  in  the  Southeast  where 
companies  were  in  demand.  They  swelled  both 
columns  in  the  State  reports,  but  the  larger  figures 
were  in  the  second  column.  Where  I  could  get 
business  the  company  didn't  want  it,  and  where 
I  couldn't  get  it,  the  manager  was  always  hungry 
— so  geht  es  in  die  Welt. 


He  v/o 


fs  u     ' 


CHAPTER  VI 
INSPECTIONS 


are     many    instruction 
books    on  the  market,  and  I 
have  no  intention  of  increasing 
the  number,  so  instead  of  tell- 
ing how  inspections  should  be 
made,  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  telling  how  they  are  made, 
without     recommendation . 
These  are  my  Me*moires,  not 
my  confessions,  and  I  decline 
to  assume  personal  responsi- 
bility for  common  practices. 
First,  the  easiest  and  most  common  is  known 
as  the  office,  or  register  inspection.     If  the  exam- 
iner has  sent  out  the  blank  slips,  so  much  the 
better,  as  a  Special's  time  is  too  valuable  to  waste 
upon  clerical  work.     This  is  the  kind  of  inspec- 
tion that  pleases  the  local  and  the  assured,  and  is 
very  popular. 


(123) 


124 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT  H.  JONES. 


Second  on  the  list  is  the  car-window  and  map 
inspection,  especially  used  for  soap  factories,  glue 
factories,  fertilizing  works,  pork  packing  estab- 
lishments, and  similar  nasty  malodorous  things. 
What  is  the  use  of  upsetting  the  stomach,  soiling 
the  clothes,  and  wearying  the  body,  only  to  learn 
that  they  are  dirty?  That  is  known  already.  Who 
can  tell  when  or  where  a  fire  will  originate,  or 
where  or  when  it  will  stop?  Not  one  of  us.  The 
inference  is  plain. 

The  third  variety  is  the  sidewalk  inspec- 
tion. If  combined  with  the  alley,  up  one  and 
down  the  other,  it  is  quite  effective  for  frame 
range  business.  The  exposures  and  stovepipes 
are  all  noted,  and  the  slips  O.  K.'d  with  a  clear 
conscience. 

We  have  been  gradually  approaching  the  risk, 
and  have  reached  the  fourth,  known  as  the  inside 
inspection,  chiefly  made  by  the  younger  members 
of  the  fraternity.  It  has  its  advocates. 

Memo.  The  desirability  of  a  clothing  stock 
may  depend  as  much  upon  the  size  and  shape  of 
the  nose  as  upon  the  amount  of  insurance  carried, 
or  the  name;  yea,  more,  as  it  is  fashionable  to 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


125 


change  or  anglicize  the  name  until  the  identity  of 
the  Pole  is  submerged. 

Memo .  Always  inspect  millinery  lines  closely , 
as  I  have  seen  prettier  things  in  some  millinery 
stores,  than  the  last  summer's  hats  in  the  display 
windows. 

Memo.  Saloons  and  liquor  stocks  are  best 
inspected  by  sample.  The  early  part  of  the  day 
recommended;  they  might  burn  before  night. 

Nearly  all  field  men  would  be  considered 
sprinkler  experts,  though  the  knowledge  of  most 
of  them  ends  with  the  "double  line  on  risks 
equipped  with  approved  sprinklers."  I  cannot 
withhold  a  word  of  advice.  Subscribe  for  Once 
Upon  A  Time,  whose  editor  knows  more  about 
Western  sprinklers  than  the  mill  mutuals — more 
than  the  inventor  thought  he  knew.  Sample  copy 
sent  to  any  name  and  address  upon  application. 

There  is  yet  another  method  in  use.  If  you 
know  as  little  as  I  do  about  some  of  the  modern 
technical  hazards,  use  some  other  fellow's  inspec- 
tion, copy  it,  and  send  it  in  as  your  own.  His 
judgment  may  not  be  infallible,  but  it  is  better 
than  none. 


126  MR  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

I  always  retained  a  duplicate  of  all  inspec- 
tions, and  found  it  a  great  comfort  in  time  of 
trouble.  Every  time  I  visited  Adair,  I  could  gaze 
upon  the  old  frame  flour  mill  I  had  cancelled  off 
five  years  ago ;  note  the  frame  range  marked  K.  O. 
(a  paraphrase  of  O.  K.),  that  had  persistently 
refused  to  burn ;  turn  from  the  press  reports  in  the 
morning  paper  to  my  duplicate  slip,  and  see  how 
little  my  judgment  was  really  worth.  It  was  also 
convenient  on  a  request  for  re-inspection,  as  mem- 
ory is  often  treacherous,  and  a  Special  gets  tripped 
up  often  enough  unavoidably,  without  setting  pit- 
falls for  himself. 

Possibly  two  or  three  times  in  a  century,  a 
risk  I  cancelled  would  burn.  Oh,  the  delight. 
Then  Jones  patted  himself  on  the  head,  joshed  the 
agent  who  had  made  a  row  over  it,  and  wrote  his 
manager  a  congratulatory  letter,  offering  a  good 
opening  for  the  compliments  of  the  season.  Did 
they  shower  in?  Every  Special  can  answer  from 
his  own  experience. 


I  was  once  asked  to  inspect  a  dozen  farm  risks 
at  a  small  Missouri  agency,  and  when  I  inquired 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


127 


of  the  agent  where  they  were,  and  how  I  should 
lay  out  my  route  to  reach  them  easiest,  he 
said: 

' '  You '  11  waste  your  time .  You  can '  t  possibly 
have  a  loss,  as  there  isn't  anything  there  to 
burn." 

"How  is  that?  " 

"I'll  tell  you.  A  loan  agent  has  his  office 
next  door,  and,  as  his  loan  company  will  not  lend 
on  unimproved  farms  he  sends  a  policy  along  with 
the  loan  papers,  and  I  furnish  the  policies.  Don't 
you  think  it  is  good  business?  Just  like  finding 
money?  " 

What  would  you  do  under  such  circumstances? 
So  did  I,  and  I  have  never  regretted  my  action. 


St.  Louis  business  had  been  burning — 
as  usual — and  the  manager  sent  me  there  to 
inspect  all  our  business,  probably  suppos- 
ing this  would  charm  our  sorrows  away.  I 
had  worked  my  legs  hard  for  two  months 
and  had  seen  all  our  risks  but  one — a  $2,500 
line  on  stock  for  the  Ruth  Pipe  Company. 
Weary  and  jaded  at  the  close  of  the  day, 


128 


ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


I  halted  at  No.  423-425  S.  Main,  with  my  last  slip 
reached,  saw  the  signs  by  the  doorway,  entered, 
looked  around  and  said : 

1  c  You  make  metal  piping  here?  ' ' 

The  workman  nearest  me  coincided  and  con- 
tinued his  labor,  while  I  inspected  the  stock;  with 
a  deep  sigh  of  relief  and  a  clear  conscience  I  marked 
the  slip — "Metal  worker — Mfrs.  Sheet  and  Metal 
Piping— O.  K.  Jones." 

Three  months  later  I  was  on  my  usual  first-of- 
the-year  visit  to  the  head  office.  After  the  cus- 
tomary greetings  to  the  staff,  the  manager  called 
me  to  his  private  office,  set  up  the  cigars,  com- 
plimented me  on  the  satisfactory  results  of  the  past 
year  (this  was  unusual) ,  and  said  : 

"Mr.  Jones,  did  you  personally  inspect  all 
our  St.  Louis  risks?  " 

"Certainly.  I  never  put  in  two  months  of 
harder  work." 

"Did  you  inspect  the  Ruth  Pipe  Co.  line?" 

'  *  Why,  yes.  I  remember  it  well ,  It  was  the 
last  risk  I  looked  at." 

"Well,  Jones,  I  know  you  wouldn't  make  a 
false  report,  but  I  have  it  on  good  information  that 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


129 


this  was  a  cob-pipe  factory.  The  risk  has  since 
burned,  and  Mr.  Kellner,  the  adjuster,  evidently 
labored  under  the  same  impression,  for  he  allowed 
their  claim  on  a  stock  of  cob  pipes.  You  can't 
both  be  right — one  of  you  must  have  made  a 
mistake." 

My  explanation  was  probably  satisfactory,  for 
I  am  still  on  the  Cataract's  force.  When  other 
kinds  fail,  honesty  is  good  policy. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CHANGING   AN   AGENCY   IN   KANSAS 


EOGRAPHICALLY,  an  imagin- 
ary line  only  separates  Missouri 
from  Kansas.  Morally,  politi- 
cally, and,  I  may  say,  in 
intellectual  structure,  they  are  far 
apart.  Ante  bellum  antipathies 
to  some  extent,  survive  in  the 
descendants  of  the  original  slave-holder  on  one 
side,  and  the  abolitionist  on  the  other.  While  the 
ex-confederate  was  the  prominent  citizen,  and 
inferentially  the  leading  agent  in  Missouri,  the 
one-armed  or  one-legged  Union  soldier  was  his 
prototype  in  Kansas.  Time  has  effaced  some  of 
the  old  rancor,  and  is  rapidly  exterminating  both 
species.  Veterans  of  the  Civil  War  are  now  rarely 
met  in  active  business,  but  they  were  abundant  in 
the  early  eighties. 

My  agent,  the  town  constable,  had  defaulted. 
His  friends  made  good  his  shortage,  but  were  not 


(131) 


132  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT  H.  JONES. 

kind  enough  to  select  his  successor.  I  looked 
over  the  ground  and  found  the  following  men  in 
the  business:  Carl  Weiskopf,  Ole  Johnson  and 
Major  Hunter,  leading  agents ;  Judge  Morrow  and 
D.  R.  A.  I,ane  close  seconds,  with  the  usual  num- 
ber, hanging  on  the  skirts  of  the  business — one  or 
two  company  fellows,  unlikely  material  to  work 
upon. 

Weiskopf  was  teller  in  a  local  bank.  I  thought 
I  would  approach  him  properly,  as  much  depends 
upon  the  first  impression  you  make. 

"  Erlauben  Sie,  Herr  Weiskopf?" 
' (  That  is  my  name.     What  can  I  do  for  you? ' ' 
A   peculiarity  of   the  German- American  or 
American-German,  is   his    apparent  inability  to 
speak    his    mother   tongue.     He    nearly   always 
answers  a  German  query  in  English,  or,  perhaps 
my  Dutch  was  too  much  for  him?    As  he  was  evi- 
dently ashamed  of  his  nationality,  I  ceased  to  be 
his  Landsmann  at  once. 

<(  I  am  looking  for  an  agent,  have  you  room 
for  another  company?  A  liberal  writer,  first  class, 
old  and  well-established,  the  Cataract." 

' '  Liberal  writer?  What  do  you  write? ' ' 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


133 


* '  Frame  range  business ;  ordinary  special  haz- 
ards, etc.  I  don't  think  you  have  a  prohibited 
risk  in  town." 

u  If  you  will  carry  $5,000  on  the  Parkhouse 
Sugar  Mill,  I  can  give  you  a  policy  to-day." 

Now,  this  was  a  prohibited  risk — a  sorghum 
sugar  factory,  experimental  or  worse,  since  the 
process  even  with  Government  assistance  never 
progressed  beyond  exhausting  the  appropriation. 
It  was  silent,  partially  dismantled,  and  heavily 
mortgaged  to  the  bank.  No,  we  couldn't  swallow 
it. 

Weiskopf  froze  up  and  wouldn't  consider  the 
matter  further,  so  I  called  upon  Mr.  Johnson. 


He  represented,  in  a  way,  the  large  Scandi- 
navian farming  community  north  of  town.  After 
he  had  read  my  card,  and  I  had  stated  my  mission, 
he  said: 

"Aye  tank  aye  haf  company  aynuf.  Aye 
been  too  bizzy  to  make  out  so  much  account  efery 
month." 

All  my  persuasions  fell  upon  phlegmatic  ears — 
I  had  to  give  him  up. 


134 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  II.  JONES 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


135 


Major  Hunter  was  one  of  the  original  Jay- 
hawkers;  fought  against  Quantrell;  was  in  the 
Lawrence  Raid,  was  also  a  local  politician,  and 
generally  of  much  more  importance  than  the  army 
records  admitted.  It  was  quietly  hinted  by  the 
opposition  that  he  was  in  the  Commissary  Depart- 
ment, but  he  was  commander  of  the  local  Post,  and 
would  not  take  a  back  seat  for  anybody  on  military 
record  or  reminiscences.  I  saw  the  sign  of  the 
Old  Springfarm,  and,  looking  at  it,  introduced 
myself  by  asking  if  Major  Wiseman  had  been  there 
recently. 

"Know  the  Major?" 

' '  Of  course ;  every  insurance  man  knows 
him." 

Whereupon  he  entertained  me  with  a  selection 
of  anecdotes  I  had  heard  half  a  dozen  times  from 
the  originator,  the  only  Major  himself ;  talked  local 
politics;  gave  me  his  army  record;  scored  the 
rebels  and  their  apologist,  the  Democratic  party, 
but  wouldn't  take  the  Cataiact.  I  was  too  young 
to  have  served,  and  as  my  father  was  not  fortunate 
enough  to  have  been  a  conscript,  I  couldn't  show 
family  patriotism  enough  to  do  business  with  him. 


136 


MEMOIR ES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Judge  Morrow  was  out  of  town,  showing  some 
one  a  likely  farm,  or  making  a  survey  for  a  farm 
loan  applicant.  I  never  met  him, 
but  I  have  seen  many  of  his  loan 
applications,  and  they  were  works 
of  art.  He  divided  the  quarter 
section  into  small  squares,  painted 
the  orchard  green,  the  wheat  red, 
the  corn  yellow;  forwarded  an 
insurance  policy  for  $1,500  on  a 
$250  house ,  and  secured  a  thousand- 
dollar-loan  on  an  eight-hundred- 
dollar  farm.  I  did  not  care  to  get 
into  his  agency  except  as  a  last  resort,  and  was 
not  very  sorry  he  was  out. 


Lane  was  a  young  man,  a  native  Kansan, 
reared  in  Leavenworth,  and,  as  his  initials  indi- 
cated, at  a  time  when  stirring  events  were  pulled 
off.  He  was  known  as  Anthony  Lane — Tony  for 
short.  To  my  surprise,  I  found  an  opening,  or, 
I  persuaded  him  to  make  one,  and  was  relieved 
of  the  necessity  of  chasing  after  the  above  men- 
tioned hangers-on.  He  even  gave  me  a  bond, 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


137 


though  he  demurred  at  first,  and  before  I  left  I 
had  seen  all  our  policy  holders  and  given  them  as 
good  a  talk  as  I  could  to  induce  them  to  stay  with 
us.  He  made  a  good  agent,  and,  if  alive, 
must  be  a  rarity — the  variety  is  almost  extinct  in 
Kansas. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CULTIVATING  THE  AGENTS 


HEN  I  was  not 
changing  an  agency 
or  adjusting  a  loss, 
or  inspecting  a  risk, 
or  attending  to  one 
of  the  multifarious 
duties  of  a  Special, 

I  was  supposed  to  be  cultivating  the  busi- 
ness ;  which,  being  translated,  means  jolly- 
ing the  agents.     I  have  hinted  at  some  of 
the  most  common  methods  employed;    a 
catalogue  of  all  of  them  would  fill  a  vol- 
ume, and  serve  no  useful  purpose.    Every 
Special  is  au  fait,  before  he  has  been  in  the  field 
a  year.     What  will  get  me  under  his  vest?     How 
can  I  increase  my  business? 

Dollars  and  cents  not  only  talk,  they  roar, 
but  they  are  coarse.  The  Special  that  buys  busi- 
ness is  sewing  his  own  shroud.  He  must  get  it 


(139) 


140  MR  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

on  even  terms  with  his  competitors,  or  his  exist- 
ence is  not  justified.  I,  Jones,  have  invented  a 
dozen  plans,  have  tried  them  and  cast  them  aside. 
No  general  scheme  will  fit  all  cases.  You  must 
adapt  yourself  and  your  conduct  to  the  circum- 
stances— for  instance: 

It  was  on  my  regular  visit  to  Glorietta,  and 
while  I  was  cultivating  the  agent  in  his  office,  a 
firm-jawed,  unprepossessing,  half -masculine  crea- 
ture sailed  in  and  said  to  my  agent: 

"  You're  a  nice  man,  you  are.  Where  is  the 
kindling  I  told  you  to  order  this  morning?  We 
can't  cook  without  a  fire,  nor  make  a  fire  without 
wood." 

"Excuse  me,  Arabella,  this  is  Mr.  Jones, 
Special  of  the  Cataract;  Mr.  Jones,  my  wife," 
in  an  apologetic  tone  and  manner. 

One  glance  and  I  decided  Arabella  was  our 
real  agent — she  was  the  one  to  cultivate  if  I 
expected  results.  She  was  the  whole  household. 
I  told  her  a  parlor  story,  talked  her  into  a  good 
humor  (for  her,),  and  was  invited  to  supper.  I 
played  with  the  children,  and,  in  addition  to 
securing  her  good  graces,  placed  the  agent  under 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  141 


obligations  by  taking  him  down  town  during  the 
evening  without  the  usual  preliminary  row.  This 
was  repeated  every  visit  and  the  Cataract  didn't 
suffer  in  that  agency. 


At  Podunk,  the  Methodist  preacher  gave  most 
of  his  business  to  a  company  that  ordinarily  would 
not  command  one-third  of  the  volume.  I  asked 
him  why  he  favored  this  particular  company? 

"I'll  tell  you,  Jones.  The  Special  is  the 
most  artistic  swearer  I  ever  met.  A  man  that  can 
swear  and  curse  in  as  many  different  ways  as  he 
can,  anent  nothing  at  all,  is  certain  to  have  a 
hard  time  hereafter,  and  it  is  my  duty  to  make 
this  life  as  pleasant  as  I  can  for  him.  The  next 
is  likely  to  be  dreadful." 

No  one  but  a  preacher  would  do  it.  A 
layman  would  have  kicked  him  out  of  the 
office. 


I  once  put  over  $200  in  premiums  on  the 
books  at  a  small  agency  by  personal  solicitation. 
The  agent  never  gave  us  another  risk,  because 
we  had  more  than  our  share.  He  was  the  only 


142  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

agent  in  town  and  said  he  would  have  gotten  the 
business  anyway.  This  was  an  illustration  of 
appreciation. 


Tom  Johnson  was  our  agent  at  Gordon,  Mo. 
The  town  isn't  on  the  map.  No  use  to  look  it  up, 
as  you  couldn't  get  in  if  you  tried.  He  gave  us 
practically  all  his  business.  Stuck  on  the  com- 
pany ?  No.  On  the  Special  ?  No.  I  ordered  an 
extra  one  of  our  works  of  art,  which  the  vulgar 
call  a  sign,  for  his  parlor,  and  because  his  wife 
didn't  fancy  any  other  company's  sign,  he  had 
to  give  us  all  his  business  to  keep  peace  in  the 
family. 


One  of  the  meanest  tricks  was  played  by  a 
Special  of  the  Kansas  Boomer  at  Podunk.  His 
agent's  daughter  was  the  clerk,  and  what  do  you 
suppose  he  did?  Make  love  to  her?  Worse  than 
that ;  he  married  her.  When  the  competition  for 
business  reaches  such  proportions,  I  shall  move 
to  Sulu.  The  laws  of  this  portion  of  these  United 
States  are  not  liberal  enough  to  justify  an  exten- 
sive list  of  father-in-law  agencies. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


143 


Nothing  so  taxes  the  ingenuity  as  the  com- 
petition for  premium  income,  consequently  there 
are  no  tricks  or  devices  imaginable  left  untried, 
some  honorable,  many  questionable,  a  few  dis- 
reputable. Detraction  re-acts,  and  is  never  used 
by  a  reputable  Special.  Innuendo  is  a  more 
common  weapon,  but  the  secret  is,  to  get  yourself 
liked,  not  your  competitor  in  the  agency  disliked. 
Positive  action  aids  you  directly,  while  the  result 
of  negative  action  is  scattered.  You  only  get  a 
small  portion  of  the  benefits.  It  may  require 
years  of  waiting  to  get  into  a  particular  agency, 
and  more  years  to  get  a  fair  share  of  the  business, 
bnt  the  slow  process  is  the  better  in  the  end. 
Pertinacity  is  nearly  always  rewarded,  and  if  you 
stick  to  it  you  can  almost  get  blood  out  of  a 
turnip.  Of  course,  if  you  find  your  agent  is  a 
rutabaga,  you  would  better  quit  at  once  and  try 
another,  but  ninety-nine  per  cent  are  capable  of 
being  worked  if  you  can  only  find  their  weak- 
nesses. 

It  isn't  so  hard  to  get  business  for  a  leviathan ; 
it  commands  a  certain  amount,  and  being  in 
demand  as  a  leader  in  the  agency,  almost  works 


144 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


itself  to  the  top.  Most  of  us  travel  for  the  com- 
pany of  medium  size;  its  dollars  are  good,  but 
not  better  than  gold  dollars;  its  indemnity  is 
equal  to  any,  but  it  has  neither  great  age,  great 
size,  nor  great  prestige  to  recommend  it,  and  the 
personality  of  the  Special  increases  as  the  demand 
for  the  company  decreases. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


145 


CHAPTER  IX 

MY   FIRST  LOSS 


AVE  you  ever  been  to  Osceola? 
No?  I  congratulate  you. 
After  a  thirty -mile  drive 
from  the  railroad,  fording 
or  swimming  the  Osage, 
as  the  stage  of  the  water 
permits  or  necessitates ,  you 
are  ready  for  as  many  corn  dodgers  and  as  much 
bacon  and  other  aliment  as  the  local  hotel  supplies. 
And  such  a  hotel !  Built  before  the  war ;  full  of 
unregistered  guests  in  summer  and  draughts  in 
winter  (when  the  guests  are  more  or  less  quiescent) , 
food  swimming  in  grease  and  dyspepsia  oozing  out 
of  the  very  walls,  saturated  with  the  kitchen  fumes 
of  half  a  century.  Is  it  marvelous  that  white- 
caps  abound  and  lynchings  are  frequent?  Is  there 
not  more  connection  between  food  and  morals 
than  we  suspect?  Are  not  grease,  ague  and  quinine 
frequently  the  cause,  or  at  least  the  indices,  of 


146  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

night  riders,  regulators,  and  other  predatory  suc- 
cessors to  the  original  Ku-Klux-Klan? 

On  the  Osage  bottom,  ten  or  twelve  miles 
below  the  town,  I  settled  my  first  loss.  I  had 
been  doing  agency  work  for  a  couple  of  years, 
and  was,  presumably,  by  this  time,  equipped  for 
adjusting,  though  the  connection  between  the  two 
branches  of  the  business,  aside  from  availability, 
has  never  been  explained  to  me.  I  was  considered 
competent  to  handle  a  farmer,  at  any  rate.  Yet 
the  unlettered  tiller  of  the  soil  is  full  of  shrewd- 
ness and  guile,  and  a  more  difficult  customer  to 
deal  with  than  the  average  country  town  business 
man.  His  notion  of  well  dressed  humanity  is  gath- 
ered from  lightning-rod  peddlers ,  farm  machinery 
salesmen,  gold  brick  merchants,  and  other  like 
birds  of  prey.  Can  you  blame  him  if  he  is  sus- 
picious of  even  an  embryo  adjuster? 

The  agent  wished  to  drive  out  with  me,  but 
I  was  uncertain  of  my  ground  and  did  not  care  to 
have  a  witness  to  my  possible  discomfiture ;  so  I 
found  my  way  alone  over  the  flint  hills  and  mucky 
bottom  land,  arriving  about  dinner  time.  The 
claimant  was  a  sallow,  lank  individual,  one  of  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


147 


real  old  stock,  and  was  plowing  his  corn,  when  I 
arrived.  I  sat  on  the  fence  until  he  crossed  the 
field.  When  he  was  about  to 
turn  for  another  round,  I  said: 

*  *  Howdy .    Fine  weather  for 
corn?" 

"Middlin1  ,"    he    replied, 
glancing  at  me  out  of  the  tail  of 

i  •  1  •  i«  •  w^  L*  f'  \\3 

his  eye,  but  evincing  no  disposi- 
tion to  stop  his  work,  and  swearing  at  his  mule 
while  he  yanked  the  cultivator  around. 

"  I  am  Jones,  adjuster  for  the  Cataract  Insur- 
ance Co.,  and  have  come  out  to  settle  your 
loss." 

u  Ye  have,  have  ye?  Now  that's  what  I  call 
doin'  the  square  thing.  If  ye'd  writ  me,  I'd  a 
met  ye  in  Osceola  and  saved  ye  the  trip." 

He  commenced  to  thaw  a  little  now.  Probably 
supposed  I  wanted  his  money  when  he  first  saw 
me,  but  to  give  him  my  money — that  was  different. 

"What  burned?" 

"The  hull  durned  shootin' -match  burned, 
that's  what." 

"Barn,  too?" 


148 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"Didn't  have  no  barn,  but  the  house  an' 
furniture  all  went." 

"  Did  you  save  your  policy?" 

"  The  loan  fellers  up  to  Kansas  City  have  it. 
I  reckon  I  wouldn't  've  had  any  insurance  if  they 
hadn't  made  me  take  it." 

"All  right.  I  have  a  copy,  so  it  doesn't 
matter.  L,et's  see :  $300  on  frame  dwelling  house, 
and  $200  on  household  furniture,  wearing  apparel , 
etc.  Iross,  if  any,  payable  to  Jawis,  Conkhite  & 
Co.  Is  that  correct?" 

"Not  by  a  durned  sight  it  ain't  correct. 
That  was  a  log  house,  made  of  hewed  walnut  logs, 
and  you  can't  run  any  flimsy  studdin'  shebang  in 
on  me,  not  if  I  know  it — " 

"  But  the  policy  says—" 

"I  didn't  write  the  policy,  did  I?  Harris 
wrote  it,  and  he  know'd  my  house;  he's  been 
here  a  dozen  times.  No,  sirree.  I  want  pay  for 
walnut  logs — no  scrub  oak — but  good  seasoned 
walnut,  an'  it's  gettin'  mighty  scarce  'round  here, 
too.  Why  I  could 'a  sold  them  logs 
fer  five  hundred  dollars,  and'ud'a 
done  it  too  if  Lize'd  a  let  me." 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


149 


Up  against  it,  Jones,  old  man.  Let's  drop 
the  house  and  tackle  the  furniture. 

' '  Have  you  made  a  list  of  the  furniture? ' ' 

"Lize  has." 

'  *  How  did  the  fire  originate? ' ' 

''How  did  it  what?" 

"How  did  it  start?" 

' '  Dunno,  must 'a  ketched  from  the  chimbly. ' ' 

"  Didn't  you  save  anything?" 

"Saved  the  kids." 

"Well,  let's  go  and  see  your  wife.  I  want 
to  get  back  before  dark." 

We  found  Lize  and  the  kids,  six  or  seven  of 
them,  near  where  the  house  had  stood.  All  that 
remained  was  the  stone  base  of  the  chimney, 
looking  like  one  of  "Blunt's  monuments"  of  the 
closing  days  of  the  war.  I*ize  was  getting  dinner 
in  a  kettle  at  an  open  fire.  She  wasn't  pretty, 
though  before  the  advent  of  the  kids  she  might 
not  have  been  ill-looking. 

"  This  is  the  insurance  man,  L,ize,"  was  my 
introduction,  which  she  acknowledged  with  a 
nod,  wiping  the  smoke  out  of  her  eyes,  or  rather, 
the  tears  drawn  by  the  smoke. 


150  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

"  He  wants  a  list  of  the  traps." 

u  Better  wait  'till  after  dinner;  I  ain't  got  no 
time  to  fool  with  'em  now.  You  L,ige,  you  little 
brat,  keep  outin'  the  kittle,  will  ye?"  making  a 
swipe  at  Elijah,  but  not  quickly  enough  to  catch 
him. 

I  took  pot  luck  with  them.  What  they  would 
endure  for  days,  I  might  endure  for  once,  and 
when  the  meal  was  disposed  of,  we  went  to 
work.  The  list  commenced  with  the  items  dear 
to  her  by  association  —  not  with  the  wearing 
apparel  the  city  bred  woman  would  have  men- 
tioned first. 

"  Two  feather  beds,  how  heavy  were  they?" 

41  'Bout  thirty  pounds." 

* '  Sixty  pounds  of  feathers  at  20  cents  a 
pound— $12." 

u  Twenty  cents?  You  can't  get  first  pickin' 
feathers  like  them  fer  no  40  cents  a  pound." 

"But  they  have  been  used,  and  we  figure 
depreciation." 

"  No  you  don't  figure  nothing  outer  me.  I 
know  what  feathers  is,  and  nobody  in  this  neigh- 
borhood had  better  ones  neither — " 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  151 

To  stop  her  volubility,  pass  sixty  pounds  at 
30  cents,  a  fair  compromise;  same  with  half  a 
dozen  pillows. 

"Split-bottom  rocking  chair.  What  was  it 
worth? ' ' 

"  More'n  we'll  get  fer  it,  I  reckon.  Ole  man 
Thomas  made  it,  and  he  was  the  handiest  man  in 
these  parts.  Raised  every  one  of  these  young  'uns 
on  it,  and  it  was  just  as  strong  and  good  as  new. 
'Druther  have  it  than  any  of  your  store  cheers, 
that  can't  stand  no  use  and — " 

Heavens !  At  this  rate,  when  will  we  get  to 
the  end? 

"  How  does  $2  strike  you?" 

4 '  Two  dollars !  fer  a  seasoned  cheer  that  has 
raised  all  these — " 

"Three  dollars?" 

44  Say  four.  It  was  wuth  more'n  four,  but  I 
don't  want  to  be  onreasonable — " 

Item  by  item,  down  to  the  rolling-pin — and 
the  whole  scheduled  $225.  I  did  not  want  to 
send  in  my  first  proof  without  a  salvage,  and 
made  a  bold  bluff  at  33i  off,  and  a  settlement  at 
$150,  but  it  wouldn't  go.  Finally  they  agreed  to 


152  MEMO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

$175  which  was  ample,  and  I  took  up  the  house 
again  with  the  old  man. 

"  How  much  is  the  place  mortgaged  for?" 

"  'Bout  $400." 

"  All  right;  I'll  pay  you  $400,  that  will  just 
cancel  the  mortgage." 

' '  Not  much  you  won't.   Them  walnut  logs — ' ' 

"But  we  didn't  insure  a  log  house.  The 
company  prohibits  log  houses,  and  we  must  either 
agree  upon  what  a  frame  house  of  this  size  is 
worth,  or  we  can't  pay  you  anything." 

"  Ye  can't,  eh?  By  gum,  we'll  see  whether  ye 
kin  or  not.  I  saw  lawyer  Childs,  up  to  Osceola, 
and  he  says — *  Don't  you  take  a  cent  less  than 
the  policy  calls  fer ; '  that's  what  he  says.  They's 
d  State  law,  a  Statoot,  or  something  that's  fixed 
the  hull  bizness.  I  ain't  a  fool  if  I  do  eat 
tumble-bugs." 

Against  it  again.  Walnut  logs  and  valued 
policy  law.  Let's  try  another  tack. 

u  All  right,  if  you  want  to  settle  your  claim 
with  lawyer  Childs,  go  ahead;  I'm  going  back. 
Understand,  we  do  not  waive  any  of  the  terms 
and  conditions  of  the  policy.  The  policy  will  tell 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


153 


you  what  to  do  and  when  it  must  be  done.  When 
you  get  ready  to  adjust  the  loss,  if  your  lawyer 
will  write  the  company,  we  will  give  the  claim 
attention  in  the  usual  order  of  business." 

I  hitched  up  and  was  preparing  to  go.  The 
old  man  chewed  a  straw,  scratched  his  head,  and 
rubbed  his  chin — evidences  of  deep  thought  in 
one  unaccustomed  to  think — but  made  no  effort 
to  detain  me.  After  I  was  in  the  buggy,  I  gave 
him  one  parting  shot. 

* c  Have  you  agreed  with  Childs  on  his  fee? ' ' 

"I've  been  thinkin',  an'  I'll  tell  you  what 
I'll  do.  You  make  it  $450,  that's  throwin'  off  $25 
on  the  house,  and  I'll  call  it  a  bargain." 

Accepted,  proofs  attested  by  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  estimate  of  frame  house  made  to  fit  the  case, 
and  my  first  loss  was  settled,  but  not  adjusted. 

One  of  the  many  differences  between  Kansas 
and  Missouri  is,  that  in  the  former  State  the 
Insurance  Commissioner  would,  when  reports  were 
filed  at  the  end  of  the  year,  volunteer  as  collection 
agent  for  the  $25  compromise,  giving  the  com- 
pany the  alternative  of  paying  or  having  the  license 
revoked. 


154 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Note  by  the  Editor:  Mr.  Jones  is  mixed  in 
his  dates,  as  the  valued  policy  law  of  Missouri 
was  enacted  in  1889,  years  after  the  time  he  set 
for  his  adjustment. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


155 


CHAPTER  X 
A  SPECIAL'S  DECALOGUE 


ON'T  permit  yourself  to  get  lost,  but 
wire  a  change  of  route. 

Don't  order  a  risk  dropped  at 
expiration  unless  you  wish  to  reduce 
the  line.  If  too  poor  to  renew,  it 
is  too  poor  to  carry  over  night. 

Don't  write  the  office  to  cancel 
a  risk.     Have  the  courage  to  do  it 
yourself  on  the  ground.     Agents, 
like  women,  despise  cowards. 

Don't  leave  an  agency  until  you  have  trans- 
acted all  your  business.  Better  stay  another  day 
than  make  another  visit.  Don't  make  two  bites 
of  a  cherry 

Don't  buy  business.  No  company  can  long 
afford  to  employ  an  intermediary  to  make  excess 
commission  contracts;  consequently  the  Special 
who  practices  this  easy  but  expensive  method 
of  securing  business  is  undermining  himself, — is 
working  for  his  own  abolition. 


156 


M£MOI£ES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


f  fbwje  . 
09'^  order  a  rijK  dropped  *f  exj>tr«.fior> 

duce  tlje  liije  .  j|f  -Joo  poor-ft  rep«w,  «f  ij 


at;  it^lern;*  di»r/  li  TJjftke  e/cejj  con)i9ijytlo 


carew   o 

15  populArl^   5uppo,«c<)  -io  fcprc^cr/  ftt;  u 
i 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


157 


A  8RCUUC8 


9^Re  office  . 
i^^t  f>rjn$  -tt)t>i)*benj<tyt  t}  fy'i 

o/^'ee  ,rjo|)f»r  wropp  ,  /yt  »  nptter  of 
cipli9«  ,  if-^r  90  ol^er  retkjop  . 


ri^k  i^  declined  >vi^our*  -re&5« 
repderi^ 


»  <rl»K  .    |    m»**i^      fcrv     •>»  y 
i.^pcrt.l  >5  Ut>o  »y   -ou.  live  i". 


158  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT  H.  JONES. 

Don't  talk  too  much.  The  spouter  at  board 
and  association  meetings,  and  the  loud,  long- 
winded  supplicant  at  prayer  meeting  will  both  bear 
watching.  The  Lord  is  not  deaf,  nor  are  field  men 
blind,  though  many  are  astigmatic.  You  may  not 
evade  responsibility  for  your  own  shortcomings  by 
chasing  the  other  fellow  around  with  a  tom-tom. 

Don't  be  a  cad.  The  Special  must  be  a  gen- 
tleman at  all  times  and  places.  He  is  the  only 
salaried  representative  of  the  companies  in  touch 
with  the  public.  His  principal  is  judged  by  his 
habits,  manners  and  conversation,  and  he  cannot 
be  too  careful  of  his  walk,  since  one  black  sheep 
is  popularly  supposed  to  represent  an  unseen  flock 
of  Southdowns. 

Don '  t  talk  shop  outside  the  shop .  The  inclin- 
ation may  be  all  but  irresistible,  but  should  be 
suppressed.  Perpetual  shop  talk  is  not  an  evi- 
dence of  the  absorbing  interest  you  take  in  your 
business,  but  is  a  bad  habit  and  prevents  the  study 
and  discussion  of  other  interesting  and  important 
topics.  An  all-around  man  must  give  a  portion 
of  his  attention  to  current  matters  only  inferen- 
tially  connected  with  his  business.  The  change 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  159 

is  a  mental  rest  that  invigorates  while  it  cultivates 
and  broadens. 

Don't  go  back  on  the  office.  The  Special 
who  spends  his  time  apologizing  for  his  manage- 
ment is  himself  an  apology.  Uphold  and  defend 
the  office,  right  or  wrong,  as  a  matter  of  discipline, 
if  for  no  other  reason.  Do  not  stultify  yourself 
by  taking  the  agent's  part  without  considering 
the  merits  of  the  dispute.  No  company  cancels 
a  risk  which  it  can  consistently  carry.  No  risk 
is  declined  without  a  reason.  Investigate  before 
rendering  judgment,  and,  if  you  find  the  agent  in 
the  wrong,  you  will  earn  his  permanent  respect 
by  pointing  out  his  error.  If  you  weaken  his  con- 
fidence in  the  judgment  of  his  management,  you 
eventually  lose  your  standing  in  the  agency. 

Don't  cackle — a  reprehensible  habit  acquired 
by  some  Specials  and  exploited  in  public  places, 
that  is  responsible  for  a  portion  of  the  general  dis- 
trust of  insurance  methods.  They  are  heard  on 
the  railway,  the  omnibus,  at  hotels  in  and  out  of 
season,  boasting  of  their  cuteness,  and  gloating 
over  Green  of  Poseyville  whom  they  did  up  in  an 
adjustment.  None  of  the  imaginary  details  are 


160  ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

omitted.  If  their  fairy  tales  be  true,  they  are 
unfit  to  adjust  honest  claims  for  an  honest  com- 
pany. As  they  are  usually  vain  imaginings,  the 
authors  should  be  drummed  out  of  a  fraternity 
which  they  dishonor.  We  have  enough  real  sins 
to  answer  for  without  adding  an  imaginary  load. 
Broken  doses  of  modesty  recommended  for  the 
obstinate  case. 

This  decalogue  is  evidence  that  the  things 
not  to  do  may  be  as  important  as  the  work  for 
which  you  draw  a  salary.  If  you  earn  it  and 
obey  these  injunctions  you  may  remain  a  Special 
as  long  as  you  live,  unless  you  are  promoted. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


161 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   HAIL   MAN 


NSURANCE  has  been  so  gener- 
ally adapted  to  the  vicissitudes 
of  life  that  nearly  all  contingen- 
cies are  provided  against.  Most 
of  the  hazards  are  under-written 
by  companies  organized  for  that 
purpose,  but  a  few  have  been 
grafted  upon  the  fire  company. 
In  the  Middle  and  Northwest,  where  the  elements 
are  capricious  and  unreliable,  tornado  insurance 
is  a  factor  in  the  premium  receipts  of  many  com- 
panies, and  hail  insurance  is  a  necessity  to  the 
farming  community. 

While  indemnity  against  hail  was  in  the  experi- 
mental stage,  the  farmer's  crop  was  insured  for  a 
lump  sum  and  the  losses  adjusted  at  the  end  of 
the  season.  As  there  were  frequently  a  number 
of  claims  in  one  neighborhood,  the  advent  of  the 
adjuster  was  anxiously  awaited  by  a  number  of 


162  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

poor  devils  whose  winter  provisions  depended  upon 
his  liberality .  Premiums  were  high ,  nearly  always 
paid  with  a  note,  and  when  the  harvesting,  thresh- 
ing and  marketing  charges,  in  addition  to  the  un- 
paid note,  were  deducted  from  the  claim,  the  farmer 
who  did  not  owe  the  company  money  was  a  lucky 
man.  The  popularity  of  the  adjuster  decreased 
as  they  got  better  acquainted  with  him.  He  often 
left  the  claimants  less  than  did  the  hail  storm. 

He  never  tarried  when  his  business  was  done. 
His  driver  was  educated  to  the  necessity  of  prompt 
action  in  an  emergency.  When  he  saw  his  fare 
bolt  out  of  the  house  or  yard,  the  team  was  under 
way  before  he  reached  the  buggy,  which  he 
mounted  on  the  fly.  Hearts  were  hardened  against 
lamentations  and  imprecations,  and  the  place  knew 
him  no  more  for  a  year,  maybe  forever. 

The  story  of  the  settlement  is  told  in  his  own 
language : 

*'  I  had  a  sectional  map  of  the  counties,  and 
located  all  the  claims  by  a  mark,  so  I  could  lay 
out  my  route.  There  was  one  spot  in  Western 
Nebraska  where  the  map  was  badly  disfigured. 
We  seemed  to  have  the  whole  country  insured, 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


163 


and  there  were  fifteen  or  twenty  dots  in  one  town- 
ship. After  a  fifty-mile  drive  I  found  myself  late 
in  the  evening  on  the  border  of  a  Russian  com- 
munity. L,odging  and  horse-feed  were  both 
refused  me,  and,  to  get  shelter  in  a  hut,  I  was 
obliged  to  disclose  my  identity.  It  was  so  late 
that  I  felt  pretty  safe  in  admitting  that  I  was  the 
hail  man,  but  I  underestimated  the  anxiety  of  the 
community.  The  news  was  spread  abroad  during 
the  night,  as  I  learned  in  good  time. 

"  We  were  on  the  road  by  daylight.  Shortly 
after  sunrise,  as  we  reached  the  crest  of  a  hill,  I 
heard  the  driver  say:  'Well,  I'll 
be  damned,'  an  admission  quite 
in  consonance  with  his  walk  and 
conversation,  yet  it  startled  me 
a  little .  He  pointed  to  the  valley 
below,  where  there  was  the  stir 
and  bustle  and  crowd  usual  to  k  : 

a  camp  meeting.  A  dozen  teams  were 
tied  to  the  fence  around  a  sod-house. 
The  folks  had  congregated  to  greet  me. 

' '  It  was  sometimes   hard  work  to  settle   a 
single  claim,  and  to  tackle  them  in  bunches  was 


164 


MEMO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


not  a  pleasing  prospect;  but  I  couldn't  back  out, 
and  determined  to  face  the  music.  They  greeted 
me  effusively  and  gutterally.  All  talked  their 
jargon  to  me  at  once,  each  wanted  to  be  adjusted 
first,  and  individual  action  was  impossible.  Some 
way  must  be  devised,  or  I  would  be  in  the  midst 
of  a  riot  before  I  knew  it. 

"The  house  had  only  one  room,  with  the 
dining  table  across  one  end  and  benches  around 
it  for  seats.  I  ranged  my  pack  of  claimants  around 
it,  crowding  as  many  as  possible  against  the  walls, 
spread  each  man's  policy  in  front  of  him,  and 
began  to  figure.  I  made  over  a  dozen  statements 
of  loss,  of  which  this  is  a  fair  sample: 


IVAN  BUSTROWICH. 

40  acres  wheat,  estimated  yield  30  bu  .  1200  bu. 
actual  "      5  bu  .    200  bu. 

Net  loss  in  bushels 1000 

Quotation  at  nearest  Ry.  station,  40c  ....      $400  00 

Premium  note $60  00 

Interest 6  50 

Harvesting  charge 50  00 

Threshing  charge 60  00 

Marketing  charge 70  00    $246  50 


Net  loss 


£153  50 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


165 


"  I  made  out  drafts  for  every  claim,  had  the 
receipts  signed,  put  them  in  my  pocket,  distrib- 
uted the  drafts  and  bolted.  Before  I  reached  the 
buggy  they  were  after  me,  a  howling,  gesticulat- 
ing mob;  but  the  driver  knew  his  business,  and 
they  never  caught  me.  The  ethics?  Bless  you, 
there  is  none  in  the  hail  business.  If  we  paid 
them  what  they  wanted  we  should  be  out  of  busi- 
ness, so  we  pay  what  they  must  have,  enough 
sometimes  to  keep  them  in  cornmeal  and  bacon 
'till  spring." 


CHAPTER  XII 

AN  ADJUSTER'S  YARN 

KILGORE'S  "VENETIAN  PAGE" 


E  were  seated 
around  the  big 
fireplace  in  the 
rotunda  of  the 
Midland  Hotel, 
recounting  our 
experiences  o  n 
household  furni- 
ture losses,  when 
Kilgore,  who  had 
been  a  patient 
listener,  said: 


* ( If  you  boys  will  wait  a  min- 
ute until  I  try  Dewey  on  the  slot 
machine  for  the  cigars,  I  will  tell 
you  of  my  experience  with  Clara 
Buster  Mound." 

He  came  back  with  a  quarter's  worth 
of  cigars,  but  by  the  smile  on  Peggy's 


(167) 


168  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

face  we  figured  that  they  cost  him  about  forty  cents. 
This  is  his  tale  as  near  as  I  can  remember  it : 

' '  Now  this  is  strictly  confidential  among  us 
seven.  It  doesn't  reflect  much  credit  on  my  ability 
as  an  adjuster,  but  I  take  it  from  what  I  have  heard 
that  you  have  all  been  done  up  at  some  time. 
Mrs.  Mound,  to  whom  I  have  given  the  title  of 
Her  Ladyship,  was  one  of  these  strong-minded 
women  who  was  looked  upon  as  a  leader  among 
women — one  who  starts  in  her  locality  a  move- 
ment for  The  Assertion  of  Our  Rights,  and  when 
she  gets  the  women  together  announces  in  a  clear 
and  decisive  manner: 

' '  '  Now,  ladies,  you  will  please  come  to  order. 
First  of  all  we  must  choose  a  chairman.'  " 

"And  at  the  slightest  hint,  or  suggestion, 
announces  her  election.  I  guess  you  know  the 
style  of  her  bonnet  and  set  of  her  jaw. 

' '  When  I  got  the  notice  of  loss  I  found  that 
besides  our  one  thousand  dollar  policy — which 
gave  permission  for  other  insurance — there  was 
five  thousand  dollars  insurance  in  two  other  com- 
panies, and  our  agent,  who  was  one  of  these  ordi- 
nary matter-of-fact  men  who  looks  on  the  practical 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


169 


side  of  a  loss,  reported:  '  Small  loss  in  attic,  will 
not  exceed  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  dollars.' 
There  was  a  little  notation  on  the  bottom  of  the 
loss  notice  opposite  '  Remarks  ' :  '  Property  dam- 
aged: some  old  lace  curtains  and  other  goods 
formerly  in  a  $50, 000  Southern  plantation  home.' 
As  the  largest  policy  was  in  one  of  the  home  com- 
panies represented  by  our  agent,  and  Mr.  Smiley, 
their  adjuster,  made  his  headquarters  in  the  city 
where  the  loss  occurred,  I  sent  a  short  form  proof 
to  our  agent,  requesting  him  to  have  Mr.  Smiley 
represent  us,  and  I  supposed  I  was  out  of  it.  But, 
bless  your  hearts,  within  the  next  three  days  I 
received  a  letter  and  a  telegram  from  my  manager, 
a  letter  and  a  telegram  from  the  secretary  of  the 
home  company,  a  telegram  from  Smiley,  and  a 
very  appealing  letter  from  our  agent — all  in  the 
same  strain,  '  We  want  you — you  must  come.  '  I 
thought  there  must  have  been  something  besides 
humming-birds  in  that  old  Southern  home,  so  I 
slid  my  alligators  under  a  berth,  told  the  porter  not 
to  forget  me,  pulled  the  curtains  together  and 
proceeded  to  pound  the  rails  for  three  hundred 
and  sixty  weary  miles. 


170 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"When  I  arrived,  I  learned  that  the  lady  had 
formerly  been  Mayor  of  the  town — as  a  mere  matter 
of  form  she  held  the  office  in  her  husband's  name. 
She  had  presented  a  claim  of  $1,956.60,  and  about 
the  time  that  Smiley  had  begun  to  prepare  himself 
for  a  vigorous  kick,  she  sprung  a  supplementary 
on  him  to  the  tune  of  $480.00.  This,  together 
with  the  fact  that  he  (Smiley)  feared  to  antagonize 
one  of  his  prominent  fellow  citizens,  was  why  your 
friend  Willie  suddenly  became  so  popular  with  the 
home  folks.  Mr.  Small,  the  other  adjuster,  sug- 
gested that  I  do  the  talking.  I  think  Smiley  put 
him  up  to  it,  he  acquiesced  so  readily. 

' '  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  view  the  remains. 
There  were  none.  Of  course  there  had  been,  but 
everything  had  been  cleaned  up  to  prevent  further 
damage.  This  looked  all  right,  and  sounded  well, 
for  it  complied  with  that  particular  condition  of 
the  policy,  but,  as  I  found  afterward,  it  removed 
the  evidence  of  $1,605.10  claimed  as  totally 
destroyed,  and  Clara  was  no  idle  day-dreamer,  let 
me  tell  you. 

"  I  took  the  lists  and  checked  them  up,  keep- 
ing my  eye  open  all  the  time  for  evidences  of 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  171 

padding,  for  while  Willie  looks  and  acts  like  a 
jay  at  times,  lie  considers  himself  pretty  smart, 
thank  you.  I  observed  the  tattered  and  torn 
remains  of  three  summer  parasols  without  making 
any  remarks,  but  when  I  came  across  a  broken 
piece  of  chinaware,  just  to  show  interest  in  the 
matter,  I  asked: 

"  '  Where  will  I  find  this  dish  on  your  list, 
Mrs.  Mound?  ' 

( '  With  withering  scorn  she  repeated  the  word, 
*  Dish?  ' 

"  I  said:  '  Why,  what  is  it?  ' 

' '  She  answered  with  dignity  in  every  syllable : 
'  A  1754  Sevres  plaque,  and  I  might  add  for  your 
enlightenment,  it  is  worth  at  least  $100.00,  but  I 
put  it  down  at  $50.00.  ' 

"  I  didn't  turn  a  hair;  simply  checked  it  on 
the  list,  but  I  was  more  cautious  thereafter  in 
giving  things  a  name.  After  looking  carefully  at 
everything  on  which  damage  was  claimed,  we 
made  an  appointment  to  meet  Mrs.  Mound,  with 
her  husband,  at  Mr.  Smiley 's  office,  and  it  was 
there  that  the  proceedings  became  interesting. 
Smiley  and  Small  both  expressed — to  me — a  desire 


172  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

to  have  the  loss  disposed  of  before  night,  fearing 
another  supplementary,  and  from  that  time  on 
they  were  as  quiet,  orderly  and  peaceful  as  Clara's 
beloved  husband. 

"  Right  here  let  me  remark,  that  practically 
all  of  the  goods  on  which  she  claimed  loss  and 
damage  were  contained  in  the  attic  of  a  barn 
temporarily  arranged  for  dwelling  purposes,  situ- 
ated on  the  rear  of  a  lot,  awaiting  the  time  when 
Clara's  husband  would  be  sufficiently  relieved  of 
financial  embarrassment  to  enable  him  to  build 
a  house  on  the  front  of  the  lot.  He  hasn't  built 
it  yet. 

' '  When  Her  Ladyship  arrived,  I  did  not  detain 
her,  but  as  soon  as  she  was  seated  at  the  director's 
table  I  began  at  once,  in  the  usual  way,  by  open- 
ing up  the  list  before  me  and  asking : 

"  *  Now,  Mrs.  Mound,  I  notice  the  first  item 
on  your  list  is  one  oil  painting,  "  On  the  Rhine," 
$75.00.  Where  did  you  get  this?  ' 

' '  She  answered :  *  It  was  a  present  from  my 
papa.  He  was  a  Southern  gentleman  of  distinc- 
tion, who  traveled  a  great  deal,  and  gathered 
works  of  art  from  all  the  great  art  centers  of 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  173 

Europe,  and  when  he  closed  up  his  Southern 
home,  shortly  after  the  death  of  my  dear  mamma, 
preparatory  to  removing  to  Washington,  he  gave 
me  (as  I  was  about  to  be  married)  carte  blanche 
to  help  myself  to  the  furnishings  of  this  delightful 
old  home.  As  I  pride  myself  on  my  good  taste, 
and  am  recognized  in  this  city  as  an  Art  Connois- 
seur, it  is  probably  unnecessary  for  me  to  assure 
you  that  I  selected  the  very  best  curtains,  portieres, 
furniture,  bric-a-brac,  bronzes  and  statuary  for 
my  new  home  in  the  North  — ' 

' '  And  so  on  and  so  on  for  fully  half  an  hour. 
As  there  were  four  long  closely  typewritten  pages 
to  the  schedule,  I  observed  hope  depart  from  the 
face  of  my  co-laborer,  Smiley,  while  our  friend 
Small  looked  anything  but  comfortable. 

"The  next  question  (I  know  you  anticipate 
it)  was: 

"  'How  long  have  you  been  married,  Mrs. 
Mound?  ' 

' '  She  answered  the  question  very  promptly : 
'  Twenty  years . '  But  when  she  proceeded  to 
recount  the  coming  of  poor  Mound,  together  with 
4  What  drugs,  what  charms,  what  conjuration  and 


174  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

what  mighty  magic  '  she  had  used  in  landing  him. 
I  broke  in  with  : 

u  '  Pardon  me,  Mrs.  Mound,  I  do  not  wish  to 
interrupt  you,  nor  to  appear  rude,  but  in  order  to 
avoid  unnecessary  delay,  we  must  confine  our- 
selves to  the  list,  so — to  expedite  matters — I  would 
suggest  that  you  take  this  pencil  and  mark  a  small 
cross  opposite  each  article  on  this  list  that  was  a 
present  from  your  father. ' 

The  great  majority  of  the  articles  received 
the  mark  of  the  cross,  with  a  little  compliment 
from  Her  Ladyship.  There  were  lace  curtains 
varying  in  price  from  fifty  dollars  for  appliques, 
down  to  twenty  dollars  for  torchons ;  black  thread 
lace  at  ten  dollars  per  yard;  a  lace  shawl  (formerly 
the  property  of  her  mother)  valued  at  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.  Oil  paintings  from  fifty  dollars 
to  seventy-five  dollars  each ;  etchings  from  '  A 
Holland  Dyke,'  at  thirty  dollars,  to  'A  Country 
Road, '  at  twenty-five  dollars.  All,  all  packed  away 
for  twenty  years  in  the  attic  of  a  barn  and  insured 
as  household  furniture.  And  just  as  I  was  about 
to  resume,  Her  Ladyship,  with  a  splendid  display 
of  injured  innocence,  exclaimed: 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  175 

"  '  I  didn't  suppose  you  would  invite  me  here 
to  insult  me.' 

(No  tears,  however.) 

"'Why,  madam,  nothing  could  be  further 
from  my  thoughts.' 

"  'Well,  I  certainly  shall  insist  upon  being 
paid  every  dollar  of  my  claim  as  shown  on  these 
lists.' 

' '  Smiley  tried  to  steal  a  look  at  me  out  of  th 
corner  of  his  eagle  eye,  but  was  checkmated  by 
Clara  taking  a  fall  out  of  him  and  his  company. 
This  gave  me  a  breathing  spell,  and  as  I  was  about 
to  empty  the  water-pitcher,  I  collected  my  scat- 
tered thoughts,  displayed  my  hospitality  in  a 
proffered  glass,  and  was  more  than  delighted  to 
have  Her  L,adyship  accept  it. 

' '  I  then  took  up  the  question  of  her  wearing 
apparel,  and  found,  from  her  answers,  that  her 
dresses  were  all  made  the  previous  summer  and 
fall,  but  she  would  not  admit  of  any  depreciation. 

"  I  then  touched  upon  the  three  parasols  (you 
probably  remember,  that  I  saw  that  they  had  been 
discarded),  and  learned  from  her  that  they  were 
all  as  good  as  new.  One  white  silk  and  chiffon 


176  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

parasol,  value  seven  dollars;  one  red  taffeta  silk, 
value  six  dollars;  one  blue  and  bronze  taffeta, 
value  five  dollars.  All — according  to  her  story — 
bought  in  the  same  season  ( last  summer) ,  and  she 
lived  in  a  barn ;  but  when  I  endeavored  to  convince 
her  that  the  depreciation  on  last  summer's  silk 
parasols  was  very  heavy,  she  met  me  with  the 
statement  that  I  knew  very  little  about  such  arti- 
cles, for  she  could  very  easily  make  them  last 
three  or  four  years.  I  very  unwisely  put  my  foot 
in  it  by  saying : 

' '  '  My  wife  never  can  get  a  parasol  to  last 
more  than  one  summer.' 

"  And  as  old  Uncle  Remus  says,  '  dats  whar 
I  drapped  my  merlasses  jug,'  for  she  sneeringly 
remarked : 

"'Probably  Mrs.  Kilgore  has  never  been 
accustomed  to  having  good  parasols.' 

"  I  pulled  myself  together,  took  another  glass 
of  ice  water  (she  was  on  her  dignity  now  and 
wouldn't  accept  my  hospitality),  and  resumed 
operations  by  skipping  the  item  of  '  one  hundred 
dollars  for  summer  underwear '  and  other 
items  that  might  embarrass  Smiley,  and  this 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


177 


brought  us  face   to   face  with  the  dreadful    sup- 
plementary. 

' '  The  first  article  on  the  list  was  '  A  Venetian 
Page.'  It  was  a  very  graceful  figure  and  had 
attracted  my  attention  while  I  was  poking  around 
looking  at  1754  Sevres  plaques,  and  congratulating 
myself  that  the  tea-set  from  the  Tuilleries,  once 
the  property  of  Louis  XV,  had  not  been  chipped. 
As  my  young  Venetian  friend  had  not  been  within 
fifteen  feet  of  the  partition,  and  the  fire  was  on 
the  other  side  of  that  partition,  and  he  was  simply 
suffering  from  a  small  blister  under  his  chin,  I 
could  not  convince  myself  that  he  was  damaged 
to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  dollars,  nor  could  I 
understand  why  the  bronze  figure  of  David  should 
be  damaged  ten  dollars  because  he  had  lost  his 
sword,  while  King  Saul,  in  the  guise  of  a  Roman 
soldier,  was  charged  up  with  fifty  dollars  for  losing 
his  shield.  I  grew  temporarily  facetious  by  insist 
ing  upon  a  compliance  with  the  usually  accepted 
traditions  that  we  have  enjoyed  from  our  youth  by 
picturing  David  with  a  sling  and  Saul  with 
javelin.  Clara  looked  me  over  very  critically  and 
asked : 


178  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT  H,  JONES 

"  '  Mr.  Kilgore,  are  you  an  Art  Connoisseur?  ' 

"  I  answered:  '  No,  madam,  I  am  simply  an 
ordinary  business  man.' 

"She  turned  half  way  round,  looked  to 
Small  to  uphold  her  in  the  statement,  and  said: 

"  '  Yes,  very  ordinary.' 

"  But  Small  was  silently  pensive,  hoping  we 
might  escape  without  an  appraisal 

'  *  However,  while  she  bowled  me  out  on  almost 
every  proposition,  I  took  serious  objection  to  pay- 
ing seventy-five  dollars  for  two  Dore*  engravings. 
She  endeavored  to  convince  me  that  because  Dore" 
was  dead  his  engravings  appreciated  in  value  year 
by  year.  I  asked  her  if  the  plates  were  still  in 
existence.  Again  I  met  that  scornful  look,  which 
plainly  said :  '  You  certainly  are  not  an  Art  Con- 
noisseur,' and  she  added: 

4 '  '  Why  should  that  make  any  difference  when 
those  were  artisfs  proofs?  ' 

' '  I  had  seen  them  in  their  damaged  and  prac- 
tically ruined  state,  and  knew  by  the  engraved 
signature  that  they  were  not  artist's  proofs,  and 
she  finally  admitted  she  was  mistaken.  My  only 
victory. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  179 

"  Oh,  but  she  was  foxy.  At  the  end  of  the 
supplementary  list  was  this  open  question,  on 
which  she  intended  to  do  a  little  trading.  '  Also 
blue  satin  brocade  medallion  pattern  parlor  suite; 
whatever  is  needed  to  put  suite  in  good  repair. ' 
(Mrs.  Mound  volunteered  the  thrilling  information 
that  a  copy  of  this  set  is  in  Holyrood  Castle.)  I 
decided  that  this  open  question  must  be  closed 
before  we  made  any  figures,  and  I  therefore  asked 
if  it  had  ever  been  upholstered  since  she  brought 
it  from  her  Southern  home.  No,  it  hadn't  been. 
I  asked  what  it  would  cost  to  re-upholster  the  set 
with  as  good  material  as  it  now  had  on  it  ?  (The 
fire  hadn't  damaged  it  a  particle.)  She  said  she 
didn't  know.  I  asked  if  she  had  endeavored  to 
get  an  opinion  from  any  of  the  furniture  dealers 
in  her  city?  She  hadn't. 

"  '  And,'  I  continued,  '  you  cannot  give  me, 
approximately,  any  idea  of  what  it  would  cost  to 
upholster  a  set  of  furniture?  ' 

' '  She  answered :    '  I  cannot. ' 

' (  Ah !  How  delighted  I  was  with  myself  now. 

"  '  Now,  Mrs.  Mound,  will  you  please  inform 
me,  if  you  cannot  express  an  opinion  on  an  ordi- 


180 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


nary  matter  such  as  upholstering  a  set  of  furni- 
ture, why  it  is  you  can  so  readily  determine  that 
#  Venetian  Page  with  a  little  blister  under  his 
chin  is  damaged  to  the  extent  of  exactly  one  hun- 
dred dollars  ?  ' 

"  Without  ruffling  a  feather,  she  very  coolly 
replied :  '  Because  I  am  an  Art  Connoisseur. ' 

"  Smiley  winked  at  me  and  we  retired,  leav- 
ing Small  to  pour  oil  on  the  troubled  waters.  I 
never  knew  Smiley  to  weaken  before ,  but  he  said : 

u  '  Kilgore,  don't  you  know  we're  up  against 
it  ?  That  woman  proposes  to  stand  pat,  and  if  we 
don't  pay  her  every  cent  she  claims,  she  will 
demand  an  appraisal,  and  on  that  old  truck  of 
hers  she  is  bound  to  do  us  up.' 

"Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  we  called 
Small  out,  and  as  my  company  had  but  one-sixth 
interest,  I  bowed  to  the  will  of  the  majority  and 
consented  to  paying  twenty-one  hundred  dollars 
on  a  claim  of  twenty-four  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  dollars  and  sixty  cents,  my  proportion  being 
only  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  but  I  carried 
my  point,  that  in  view  of  cash  payment  the  poli- 
cies were  to  be  surrendered.  I  gave  my  draft 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  181 

right  then  and  there,  and  when  Her  Ladyship  sur- 
rendered her  policies,  Mr.  Small  played  the  part 
of  the  polished  gentleman  and  said  he  trusted  she 
had  not  taken  offence  at  anything  he  had  said  or 
done,  and  that  she  would  always  feel  kindly  toward 
his  company.  Smiley  and  I  were  silent,  but  with 
a  smile  that  reminded  me  of  a  hyena,  she  turned 
to  me  and  asked  this  very  pointed  question: 

"  '  Now,  Mr.  Kilgore,  that  you  have  cancelled 
my  policies,  I  want  to  know  if  your  Company  will 
insure  me  again?  ' 

' ' My  first  impulse  was  to  answer  ' No ,  madam, ' 
but  remembering  all  the  little  jolts  she  had  given 
me,  and  possessing  to  a  certain  degree  that  mean 
desire  to  get  even,  I  answered  in  a  hesitating  way: 

<4<Why,  yes,  madam,  we  will  insure  you 
provided  you  pay  us  our  rate.' 

"  '  Why,  Mr.  Kilgore,  is  there  any  change  in 
my  rate  because  of  this  fire  ? ' 

' '  '  Certainly ,  madam ;  we  thought  we  were 
insuring  household  furniture,  but  now  that  we 
know  what  you  have  in  your  house,  we  would 
have  to  charge  you  the  Art  Museum  rate,  which 
is  very  high.' 


182 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


"Within  four  months  the  house  (or  barn, 
which  ever  you  please)  burned  down,  and  it  caught 
the  other  two  companies,  and  a  gentle  stranger, 
for  seven  thousand  dollars,  and  although  the  lib- 
erality of  our  first  settlement  may  have  caused  her 
to  avoid  any  precautions  against  another  fire,  still 
my  lacerated  feelings  found  a  soothing  lotion  in 
the  knowledge  that  I  was  directly  responsible  for 
saving  the  remaining  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
of  our  policy. 

' '  The  gentle  stranger  sent  an  adjuster  out 
from  Chicago,  and  I  obtained  from  him  a  sight 
of  her  list  of  stuff  destroyed  in  the  second  fire, 
but  my  Venetian  Page  was  not  there." 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


183 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  PUBLIC  ADJUSTER 


HAD  been  in  the  field  several 
years  before  I  met  the  wet 
nurse,  who  calls  himself 
adjuster  for  the  assured. 
While  he  had  preyed  upon 
some  of  the  Eastern  cities 
for  years,  I  believe  his  first 
appearance  in  the  West  was 
at  St.  lyouis.  Why  should 
the  State  of  Missouri  be 
chosen  as  the  theater  of  all 
sorts  of  experimental  deviltry  ?  No  wonder  her 
newspapers  cry,  "Poor  old  Missouri."  She  is 
insurance-wise,  a  worthy  object  of  compassion. 
If,  as  asserted,  insurance  agents  are  reformed 
failures,  what  becomes  of  the  insurance  men  who 
fail?  Some  try  farming,  where  they  can  hold  the 
Lord  partially  responsible  if  their  luck  still  pursue 


184  ME 'MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

them,  and  some,  fortunately  a  very  few,  become 
"vipers,  whose  treacherous  fangs  smite  the  hand 
that  fed  them, ' '  otherwise  public  adjusters.  After 
they  lose  their  attached  positions,  and  the  com- 
panies (probably  for  cause)  refuse  to  support  them 
in  an  independent  capacity,  they  sell  their  small 
stock  of  information,  dearly  paid  for  by  some  com- 
pany, to  the  first  comer.  As  the  dishonest  claimant 
most  often  seeks  assistance,  he  is  the  common 
purchaser  of  their  ability. 

I  did  not,  as  a  rule,  adjust  St.  Louis  claims, 
which  were  more  economically  handled  by  C.  W. 
Kellner.  However,  one  was  presented  so  out- 
rageous in  its  nature,  and  so  apparently  doctored 
to  rob  the  company,  that  I  was  requested  to  give 
it  personal  attention.  I  found  old  Galgenseil,  the 
claimant,  amidst  the  remnants  of  a  cheap  clothing 
stock.  He  was  probably  mentally  casting  up  his 
prospective  profits  when  I  met  him,  as  an  angelic 
smile  illumined  his  countenance.  The  sudden 
transformation  produced  by  my  business  card  was 
ludicrous.  Instantly  he  became  ruined — even  his 
dirty  children  howled  an  accompaniment  to  his 
misery. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


185 


It  was  a  bad  mess.  The  stock  was  originally 
bad;  the  location  was  bad;  trade  was  bad;  the 
man  was  bad;  with  such  components,  how  could 
the  loss  be  good,  except  for  the  beneficiary? 

He  refused  to  disciiss  the  claim  with  me: 

"You  must  see  my  addorney,  Mr.  Night- 
ingale, I  got  noddings  to  say.  I'm  ruined.  It 
was  a  beau-ti-ful  sthore  —  yusht  see  it  now," 
etc. 

As  I  had  known  Nightingale  when  he  was  in 
the  field,  I  did  not  anticipate  any  difficulty  in  deal- 
ing with  him.  A  good  attorney  is  better  than  a 
bad  claimant;  but  I  had  not  made  allowance  for 
the  changes  induced  by  time  and  circumstances. 
Instead  of  a  smile,  a  frown  greeted  me;  a  sour, 
ugly  misanthropic  frown  at  that: 

"Why  don't  you  pay  your  losses,  Jones?  " 

"We  do  pay  our  losses,  but  not  upon  such 
proofs  as  you  have  furnished  for  Galgenseil.  You 
have  been  in  the  insurance  business  long  enough 
to  know  that  legitimate  claims  are  always  recog- 
nized, and  illegitimate  ones  usually  investigated. 
We  want  to  know,  you  know." 

'  *  What  do  you  want?  ' ' 


186  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

"  Separate  value  and  damage  on  each  item. 
Your  proof  makes  a  lump  demand  for  four  thous- 
and ;  how  do  you  arrive  at  it? ' ' 

'  *  Two  thousand  totally  destroyed  and  fifty 
per  cent  damage  on  what  was  saved." 

( '  So?  How  much  stock  do  you  claim  to  have 
had?" 

"  About  six  thousand." 
1  *  Then  one-third  was  totally  destroyed? ' ' 
"Yes." 

"Yet  the  counters,  shelving  and  floor  were 
not  burned — barely  scorched? ' ' 

"  The  stock  was  burned  just  the 
same.  Don't  try  any  of  your  obsolete 
arguments  on  me .  I  have  been  through 
the  mill  and  it  won't  go.  We  want 
$4,000." 

"I  don't  doubt  your  wants.  If 
there  had  been  $10, 000  insurance,  you 
would  want  ten  instead  of  four;  but  I  do  doubt 
if  you  get  it." 

As  Nightingale  has  the  claim  on  a  percentage 
basis,  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  dispute  and  argue  with 
him.  He  is  only  amenable  to  the  argumentum  ad 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


187 


hominem .  He  knows  his  client's  claim  is  dishonest, 
yet  volunteers  to  assist  him  in  his  attempted  theft. 
"  To  what  base  uses  we  may  return,  Horatio." 

Now  commences  an  era  of  notices,  evasions, 
counter  notices,  demands,  counter  demands,  all 
over  a  dispute  that  could  be  closed  with  an 
honest  man  in  half  a  day.  What  was  the  result? 
Appraisal,  of  course,  and  the  ultimate  payment  of 
twice  the  loss.  That  was  the  result  to  the  Cataract. 
To  him?  An  increased  clientage ;  another  letter 
of  recommendation  to  the  speculative  claimant. 
Honest  insurers  sometimes  employ  him.  Why? 
Probably  because  of  the  prevalent,  undefined  feel- 
ing that  in  case  of  loss  the  assured  is  unlikely  to 
get  fair  treatment.  This  impression  is  false,  but 
it  exists.  No  other  business  requiring  the  deter- 
mining of  contingent  contracts  can  show  so  few 
disputes,  so  little  litigation,  so  small  a  percentage 
of  friction  as  the  adjustment  of  fire  losses.  No 
fairer  body  of  men  are  employed  in  any  business 
than  adjusters. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AGENS   SPECIARIUS 


Kingdom Animal. 

Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. 

Class Mammalia. 

Order       Bimana. 

Family Securus. 

Genus      Agens. 

Species Speciarius. 

MAY  be  urged  in  objec- 
tion to  this  classifica- 
tion that  some  of  the 
sub-species  lack  the 
traits  required  to  bring 
them  within  the  order 
Bimana.  In  explanation,  I  may  re- 
mark, that  in  their  physical  structure 
they  resemble  men,  and  if  their  mental  qualifica- 
tions are  deficient,  they  are  no  worse  misplaced 
than  possibly  one-half  of  the  human  race.  The 
dividing  line  between  the  next  lower  order  of 
Vertebrata  and  the  lowest  specimens  of  Bimana 


(189) 


190 


M&MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


is  so  shadowy  that  some  celebrated  writers  have 
denied  its  existence.  The  Missing  Link  may  be 
in  the  insurance  business  for  all  I  know.  If  not, 
he  is  the  only  known  specimen  we  lack  in  our 
museum. 

.5*.  Nepos.  Wears  good  clothes,  including 
dress  hat  and  shoes.  Is  deeply  interested  in 
sporting  and  theatrical  events.  Habits,  fair  to 
middling.  As  his  position  does  not  depend  upon 
the  results  of  his  labors,  there  frequently  are  no 
results.  Does  not  worry  agents  for  increased 
business.  Seldom  talks  shop.  Has  a  liberal 
expense  account,  and  a  correspondingly  large  cir- 
cle of  admirers.  Comparatively  rare  and  expen- 
sive— to  his  employer. 

6*.  Risbilis.  Never  overdresses,  rather  inclined 
to  be  careless  of  appearances.  His  characteristic 
pose  is  feet  on  desk,  and  chair  tilted,  also  hat. 
Laughs  his  way  to  his  agents'  hearts.  Associates 
with  traveling  men  on  terms  of  equality,  and  tells 
stories  of  questionable  morality.  Conversation 
liberal,  as  well  as  his  underwriting  policy.  Con- 
siders life  a  comedy,  and  gets  as  much  amusement 
out  of  it  as  he  can.  A  very  popular  character 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


191 


about  hotels;  known  as  "Jack  "  to  all  employes, 
male  and  female. 

S.  Bibulus.  His  habits  leave  him  just  enough 
backbone  to  make  him  a  vertebrate,  and  if  he 
could  breathe  liquid  as  easily  as  he 
absorbs  it  in  other  ways ,  he  would  be 
amphibious .  This  almost  excludes 
him  from  the  list,  and  very  nearly 
does  the  business  of  insurance  a 
good  turn.  He  is  a  good  mixer  of 
drinks,  and  nearly  always  addicted 
to  the  kindred  vices.  Changes 
employers  frequently — from  neces- 
sity, but  always  contrives  to  get  a  

salary   and   expense   account   equal  to  his   daily 
necessities. 

5".  Giganteus.  A  large  man  traveling  for  a 
large  company,  writing  a  large  business.  Self- 
esteem  abnormally  developed.  Will  never  realize 
how  small  a  factor  he  is  until  he  represents  a 
small  company.  Thinks  the  business  his  com- 
pany commands  a  personal  compliment.  Cold- 
blooded and  arrogant.  Considers  his  money  a 
trifle  superior  to  any  other  brand.  Generally 


192 


MEMOIR ES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


disliked,  but  his  company  remains  head  with  his 
agents  despite  his  handicap. 

6".  Repens.  Of  a  crawling,  creeping  nature, 
unable  to  stand  up  for  rates,  commis- 
sions or  good  practices.  A  slimy 
individual,  worming  his  way  into 
agencies  established  by  honest  com- 
panies, poisoning  the  agent  and 
contaminating  the  business.  Half- 
hearted efforts  have  been  made  to 
draw  his  fangs,  but  never  with  enough 
unanimity  to  ensure  success. 
5*.  Laboris.  Is  rarely  pretty,  but  his  plain- 
ness is  counter-balanced  by  his  industry.  Helps 
the  agents  solicit  business;  inspects  his  risks 
conscientiously,  and  makes  the  acquaintance  of 
his  policy  holders.  Works  as  many  hours  a  day 
as  he  can,  and  by  constant  hammering 
achieves  results.  He  is  not  gregari- 
ous, is  a  poor  conversationalist,  and 
modest  in  his  dress.  Walks  to  and 
from  the  station  and  earns  the  cab  fare. 
Is  a  thrifty  personage,  and  his  busi- 
ness ultimately  partakes  of  his  nature. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


193 


5*.  Vulgaris.  Ordinarily,  a  promoted  local, 
who  either  promised  marked  ability  or  an  increased 
volume  of  business.  After  the  callow  period  is 
past,  when  his  freshness  has  worn 
off,  he  does  not  differ  much  from 
people  in  other  walks  of  life.  With 
an  eye  to  the  main  chance  he 
approaches  it  in  various  ways. 
Neither  better  nor  worse  than  his 
fellows,  he  is  nevertheless  the 
material  from  which  most  managers  and  general 
agents  are  made,  and  we  find  the  same  diverse 
traits,  the  same  peculiarities  and  the  same  attrac- 
tion for  the  merry  rattle  of  the  chips  found  in 
managerial  circles. 

6".  Lusus  Naturae.  Sporadic  cases  exist,  not 
readily  assignable  to  any  class.  The  aboriginal 
farm  solicitor  sometimes  breaks  into  the 
fold.  The  junior  office  clerk  is  sent  out 
to  gather  experience.  A  life  insurance 
solicitor,  who  never  saw  a  fire  policy  nor  vT"^ 
a  fire-wall,  is  employed  to  prey  upon  an 
unsuspecting  public.  The  local  who  does 
per  diem  work  in  his  vicinity  for  the  good 


194  MEMO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

it  will  do  the  business  in  his  local  office.  The 
lightning  rod  peddler.  Any  one  who  cannot  be 
readily  assigned  to  one  of  the  above  sub-species. 
These  are  the  men  who  represent  the  company 
to  the  local,  and  the  local  to  the  manager.  Do 
you  marvel  that  both  are  occasionally  misrepre- 
sented? Some  of  the  types  are  not  numerous,  but 
all  of  them  exist,  and  none  are  overdrawn. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


195 


CHAPTER  XV 

AUTOGRAPHIC    BIOGRAPHY   OF   NATHANIEL 
HAWTHORNE    JONES 


HIS  is  an  account  of  the  evolution 
of  Jones.  Born  after  the  man- 
ner of  men  and  nourished  on 
ordinary  food,  he  filled  his 
head  with  information  and  sold 
it  to  an  insurance  company 
for  knowledge.  The  story  of  his  youth  is  scrawled 
upon  his  school  books;  fly  leaves,  covers  and 
pages;  horizontally,  vertically  and  diagonally. 
While  he  started  on  the  common  level  Jones  had 
aspirations  and  refused  at  this  early  age  to  be 
held  down: 


When    he    outgrew    the    barlow    and    was 
permitted    to    use    a    sharp    pointed    knife,    his 


196 


M£ MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


individuality  was  carved  on  the  desk,  seats,  school- 

building   and 
forest  trees. 

During  his 
adolescence,  he 
was  quiescent, 
but  there  prob- 
ably are  a  hun- 
dred traces  of 
his  existence  as 
N.  Hawthorne 
Jones,  possessed 
by  as  many  re- 


0?e. ftffijf  vlxif  fe  Hr  Jbiyes  Old  bom* 
19  Peni7*ylvAr>ifc  -Iff*  Editor  very  forr^t^tcK. 
secured  /5e  old  fie  «K.  &t  wtyi'cb  \je  **.f  i^ 
fie  School  Ar><i  upoi;  wKich  %t  Boy  Joneft_ 

rve<r  h'.i  i^tijaU  Ar>a.  recWeA  »S«-7d«.l4  of 
)t  crm/e  .    His    se&r-n7*ie    V.AJ  e»'<ictjfly  a 

-  S  tje  lefr  ijo  recorcl  <Mj4   ob 

' 


C>ooa 


cipients  of  his 
fleeting  admira- 
tion. 


0 


One  of  the  adored  landed  him;  as  usual,  he 
claimed  the  credit  of   the  capture.      Under  her 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


197 


influence  some  of   his  conceit  vanished,  and  he 
changed  his  personality  to  Nathaniel  H.  Jones. 


Taken  from  an  insurance  policy,  issued  by 
his  agency,  now  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 


From  his  correspondence  as  Special  Agent; 
partially  beyond  the  influence  of  Matilda  Jones, 
his  conceit  re-appears  in  flourishes  and  off-hand 
style. 


198 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT  H.  JONES 


He  has  reached  the  top  of  the  stepladder,  an 
elevation  conducive  to  illegibility.  Crystallize 
conscious  importance,  frequent  repetition,  and 
the  hurry  incident  to  the  closing  hours  of  the 
day,  and  the  scrawl  represents  some  manager,  no 
matter  who,  as  his  name  is  printed  on  the  letter- 
head to  assist  in  identification. 


—The  Editor. 


PEALIZATION 


PART  III 


THE  MANAGER 


DISENCHANTMENT 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 


S  there  are  a  hundred  pri- 
vates to  one  Captain,  and 
a  dozen  Captains  to  one 
Colonel,  so  there  are  a 
hundred  agents  to  one 
Special,  and  a  dozen 
Specials  to  one  Manager. 
In  functions  as  in  numerical 
strength  we  parallel  the  military 
organization,  and  promotions 
are  made  in  the  same  manner; 
the  first  usually  for  merit,  the  second 
sometimes  through  a  pull,  and  not  necessarily 
because  of  ability  or  seniority. 

As,  however,  some  Captains  secure  com- 
missions without  having  served  in  the  ranks,  and 
a  few  Colonels  have  political  influence  enough  to 
offset  subordinate  service,  so  it  is  in  the  insur- 


201 


202  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

ance  field.  The  office  is  our  West  Point,  and  its 
graduates  occasionally  step  over  the  heads  of 
weather-beaten  field  men,  scarred  by  numerous 
engagements,  familiar  with  the  theatre  of  war, 
acquainted  with  every  private,  well  posted  on  the 
enemy's  strength  and  weakness,  and  capable  of 
meeting  any  ordinary  emergency. 

The  adaptation  of  this  system  to  a  business 
enterprise  produces  results  paralleled  by  a  cam- 
paign. The  unequaled  courage  of  the  private 
cannot  outweigh  the  inefficiency  of  the  officer 
who  leads  his  men,  himself  courageous  enough 
but  unskilled,  to  almost  certain  destruction.  He 
does  not  know  his  ground,  underestimates  the 
obstacles  in  his  way,  undervalues  the  strength  of 
the  enemy,  is  not  mobile.  Why?  He  is  a 
theoretical  soldier.  He  follows  a  system  un- 
varied by  circumstances  and  conditions.  His 
plan  of  battle  is  carefully  made,  but  instead  of 
flanking  a  hill,  he  assaults  it  because  it  is  in  his 
way — his  plan  was  so  arranged  and  he  follows  it 
without  the  variations  the  old  campaigner  would 
adopt  when  the  necessity  arises.  He  wins,  if  at 
all,  by  numerical  strength. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  203 

Contrast  the  commander  opposing  him.  His 
army  may  be  small,  his  forces  unequal.  He, 
too,  has  courage  and  courageous  followers.  He 
symbolizes  the  small  or  medium  company  Man- 
ager. He  can  hold  his  own  only  by  superior 
tactics,  superior  generalship,  superior  ability. 
He  has  no  unnumbered  multitude  (of  dollars)  to 
draw  upon.  He  must  husband  his  strength,  can- 
not afford  to  sacrifice  his  men,  and  he  must  win, 
notwithstanding  his  limited  resources. 

There  are  very  few  first  class  powers,  and 
many  third  raters.  The  former  may  be  strong 
enough  and  wealthy  enough  to  afford  such  a 
system,  but  it  is  too  expensive  for  the  latter. 
Only  men  trained  to  their  positions,  whose  en- 
thusiasm and  experience  outweigh  superior 
numerical  strength,  are  fit  to  command  the  hosts, 
and  as  a  rule,  only  such  are  chosen. 

There  are  in  the  field  to-day,  the  equals — in 
many  cases  the  superiors — of  the  present  General 
Agency  force.  They  cannot  all  be  chosen;  there 
is  not  room  for  all  at  the  top,  but  the  material  is 
at  hand  ready  for  the  builder;  well  seasoned, 
with  some  knots  perhaps,  but  generally  classed 


204  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

as  clear.  They  are  the  future  executive  officers 
of  the  companies.  To  their  care  the  interests  of 
the  shareholder  will  one  day  be  committed,  and 
no  safer  repository  could  be  selected. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  preferment;  acci- 
dent and  opportunity  are  often  more  potent  than 
design.  I  was  called  from  the  field  quite  unex- 
pectedly (some  of  my  associates  said  unadvisedly) 
and  I  answered  the  call  with  alacrity.  Did  I 
weigh  the  responsibilities,  count  the  annoyances, 
cast  up  the  labor,  consider  the  possible  results? 
Yes,  but  the  position  counterbalanced  them  all. 

Ten  years  of  constant  traveling,  covering  a* 
times  large  areas,  moderate  familiarity  with  con- 
ditions at  widely  separated  points,  and  a  large 
acquaintance  with  the  field  and  local  personnel 
of  the  business,  may  have  been  some  of  the  deter- 
mining factors.  The  judgment  was  untried — it 
must  be  taken  for  granted.  The  conservatism  of 
executive  experience  was  lacking — it  must  be  of 
slow  growth.  The  ability  to  organize  and  com- 
mand was  embryonic — it  must  be  cultivated.  All 
things  considered,  they  took  some  chances  in 
selecting  Jones.  I,  Jones,  concede  it. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


205 


Have  my  expectation?  been  realized  1  Are 
human  anticipations  ever  fulfilled  1  The  country 
Local  imagines  he  would  be  happy  if  he  were 
only  a  Special,  but  when  he  arrives  at  the  coveted 
goal  is  he  content?  The  Special  longs  for  the 
revolving  chair.  Is  it  any  more  comfortable  than 
the  old  straight-back?  'Tis  distance  lends  en- 
chantment. Not  what  we  have,  but  what  we 
wish,  we  covet.  Probably  not  over  one  or  two 
executive  officers  in  this  country  are  really  happy, 
and  they  own  their  positions,  their  directors  and 
their  subordinates — for  they  own  the  stock. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   MANAGER 


NE    who    manages.      Sometimes   in 
the  imperative,  occasionally  in  the 
potential    mood.     The    head    of   a 
department,  a  responsible  gerant, 
who   gets  the  blame   and   may  be 
punished  for  the  faults  of  others. 
A   buffer,    bumped   from    front 
and  rear  like  a  draw-head  on  a 
heavy  grade  with  a  new  man 
at  the  throttle. 

He  is  as  varied  as  man- 
kind, all  human,  and  with 
capacity  and  capability 
bounded  by  human  limita- 
tions. The  description  of 
him  and  his  idiosyncrasies  would  characterize  as 
well  the  directing  force  of  any  business.  To  the 
country  agent,  he  is  a  great  man.  To  the  city 
agent,  he  is  an  impediment,  a  useless  barrier. 


207 


208  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

To  the  special,  he  is  the  envied  employer.  To 
his  superior  officer,  he  is  an  employee,  whose 
success  or  failure  confirms  or  condemns  the  judg- 
ment that  selected  him.  To  his  confreres,  he 
may  be  anything  from  an  able  man  to  a  ninny. 
What  we  may  think  he  is  depends  upon  the  point 
of  view  of  the  judge,  the  deflection  and  refraction  of 
the  light ;  what  he  really  is  depends  upon  circum- 
stances largely  beyond  his  creation  or  control.  He 
is  the  embodiment  of  his  employer's  policy,  a  mani- 
festation of  the  company  he  represents,  and  sub- 
ject to  a  limited  classification  upon  these  lines  only. 
The  complacent,  satisfied  Manager  has  the 
privilege  of  directing  the  affairs  of  a  large,  well- 
established  and  well-known  company  during 
prosperous  times,  in  a  prosperous  community. 
His  business  flows  steadily  on,  unimpeded  by  rate 
disturbances,  his  bank  account  waxes  strong, 
undepleted  by  conflagrations.  He  is  conserva- 
tive, content  with  a  steady  volume  of  profitable 
business.  He  is  largely  in  the  minority — in  fact, 
his  existence  has  been  doubted.  His  associates 
are  more  or  less  embarrassed  by  the  combination 
of  unappeased  wants  and  deficiencies. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  209 

The  company  may  be  large,  but  dissatisfied 
with  its  present  volume  of  business.  Its  ambition 
is  position,  and  the  times  unpropitious  for  any 
rapid  growth. 

It  may  be  an  immigrant  from  some  foreign 
principality.  A  giant  at  home,  it  brought  over 
a  giant's  appetite,  and  finds  good  forage  scarce. 

Another  may  be  clothed  in  bristles,  and 
though  the  badge  is  worn  by  all  its  employees, 
it  cannot  monopolize  the  trough  with  all  its 
crowding  and  squealing. 

It  may  be  old  with  the  frequent  accompani- 
ments of  age,  weakness  and  senility. 

It  may  be  young,  too  young,  a  fledgling  at- 
tempting to  soar  to  distant  fields  ere  it  had  learned 
to  fly  on  its  native  heath. 

Or  it  may  be,  and  most  frequently  is,  a 
mean  between  the  extremes,  and  the  Manager 
still  be  unhappy.  Disturbances  in  rates,  unequal 
distribution  of  outgo,  uneven  flow  of  income, 
unjust  legislative  restrictions,  all  tend  to  disturb 
his  equanimity;  and  when  superadded  to  his 
daily  burdens  and  annoyances,  is  it  strange  he  is 
at  times  all  but  discouraged  ? 


210 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H  JONES 


The  road  to  success  is  up  a  long,  steep  hill. 
The  companies  are  the  wagons,  the  Managers 
the  drivers.  The  gutters  are  full  of  crippled 
vehicles ;  some  minus  a  wheel ,  or  with  a  broken 
axle,  are  out  of  the  race.  Some  stationary,  using 
all  efforts  to  hold  their  own ;  some  with  broken 
brakes  sliding  down  hill;  a  few  toiling  labori- 
ously toward  the  top.  It  requires  brains  to  avoid 
the  debris,  surmount  the  barriers,  and  arrive 
despite  all  impediments ;  and  that  brains  are  not 
too  abundant,  even  in  managerial  heads,  is  at- 
tested by  the  Annual  Statements. 

Yet  his  is  not  the  entire  responsibility  for 
failure.  His  policy  is  prescribed,  the  boundaries 
of  his  labor  are  clearly  denned,  the  limits  of  his 
activity  are  set  by  the  general  management.  If 
he  is  rightly  responsible  for  the  shortcomings  of 
his  own  employes,  of  the  corps  selected  by  him, 
he  may  still  divide  the  responsibility  for  general 
results,  and  this  is  applicable  to  the  favorable,  as 
well  as  to  the  unfavorable. 

The  element  of  luck  must  be  considered, 
both  good  and  bad.  A  business  based  upon 
chance  is  subject  to  runs  of  bad  luck  that  no 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


211 


skill  can  break  and  no  dexterity  avoid.  If  long 
continued  and  persistent,  we  call  good  luck 
ability;  and  bad,  the  lack  thereof.  The  favored 
one  has  his  salary  raised,  the  other  has  his 
reduced  or  discontinued.  One  typifies  Success, 
the  other  Failure.  Are  we  not  all  gamblers  with 
fate,  some  skillful,  some  awkward,  but  all  sub- 
ject to  the  varying  chances  of  the  game  ? 


CHAPTER  III 

RESPONSIBILITY 

HE  degree  of  responsibility  depends 
upon  the  authority  granted  or  as- 
sumed in  all  agency  grades,  local, 
special  and  general.  We  are  all 
agents  of  a  principal,  and  subject  to 
the  general  laws  of  agency,  limited 
only  by  contract  and  established  cus- 
toms. We  are  often  agents  for  the 
same  principal,  some  with  direct  re- 
sponsibility, and  some  with  partially  direct  and 
partially  indirect. 

The  Manager  is  directly  responsible  for  the 
results  in  his  department,  subject  only  to  such 
limitations  as  may  be  stipulated  in  his  appoint- 
ment, or  to  such  customs  as  may  have  grown  into 
his  relations  with  his  particular  company.  In 
some  cases  he  is  but  an  exaggerated  Special ;  in 
others  he  is  the  embodiment  of  the  policy  of  the 
company,  and  his  responsibility  for  results  is 


(213) 


214  ME MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

exclusive,  or  shared  in  proportion  to  the  authority 
conferred  upon  him. 

In  what  the  Special  is  responsible  to  him, 
whether  he  is  responsible  for  the  Special  and  to 
what  degree,  again  depends  upon  the  variety  of 
Special  he  employs.  There  are  three  classes: 
The  old-fashioned  Special,  who  is  the  company 
in  his  field.  The  other  old-fashioned  one  who  is 
an  instrument  or  tool  of  his  Manager,  who  exe- 
cutes orders  and  is  not  presumed  to  think — his 
thoughts  are  all  furnished  ready-made.  The 
modern  variety  who  costs  less,  and  whose  whole 
duty  is  to  get  premiums. 

Each  is  responsible  in  his  way;  the  first,  for 
general  results;  the  second,  must  make  his  return 
properly  endorsed  like  an  under-sheriff ;  the  third, 
must  increase  the  income.  All  of  them  are  labor- 
ing side  by  side  in  the  field ;  all  bear  the  same 
name,  but  the  former  is  the  only  real  Special, 
and  the  others  are  rapidly  supplanting  him.  The 
tendency  toward  centralization  so  apparent  in  all 
lines  of  human  effort,  is  gradually  converging  all 
the  authority,  all  the  discretion  in  the  one  head — 
the  head  of  the  department. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  215 

The  choice  is  only  a  matter  of  policy  or  ex- 
pediency. If  the  high-class  man  is  disappearing, 
there  must  be  a  reason,  aside  from  the  common 
evolution  that  typifies  growth.  Possibly  the 
Special  has  deteriorated?  Or  the  scramble  for 
income  was  too  much  for  him?  Or,  more  prob- 
ably, his  passing  is  due  to  the  union  of  a  number 
of  causes?  At  any  rate  the  tendency  is  toward 
specialization,  and  the  old  all-around  man  is  less 
frequently  met  in  the  field  than  he  was  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  As  he  dies,  is  promoted  or  retires, 
his  place  is  occupied  by  one  less  expensive,  with 
less  general  authority,  and  inferentially  less  knowl- 
edge and  more  limited  responsibility. 

The  same  tendency  is  apparent  in  the  local 
field,  and  they  all  increase  the  load  of  the  General 
Agent.  As  the  Locals  and  Specials  depreciate, 
the  Manager  appreciates.  They  are  his  selections 
and  under  his  control,  and  when  he  assumes  the 
functions  formerly  delegated  he  assumes  the  re- 
sponsibility associated  with  them.  The  imme- 
diate office  force  he  can  direct  and  instruct.  He 
is  always  at  hand  for  consultation ;  but  the  office 
system  extended  to  the  field  force  is  a  doubtful 


216  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

experiment.  With  self-reliance  and  independence 
eliminated,  how  can  a  Special  form,  or  act  upon 
his  conclusions? 

Every  step  taken  in  this  direction  removes 
insurance  one  degree  further  from  a  profession, 
while  it  does  not  elevate  it  as  a  business.  The 
conclusion  is  manifest.  In  the  course  of  time, 
the  Manager  will  be  the  one  responsible  agent 
between  the  company  and  the  policy-holder,  and 
his  subordinates  will  be  automatons. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


217 


CHAPTER  IV 
ETHICS 


F  the  dealings  of  insurance 
Managers  with  the  public,  no 
valid  complaint  can  be  made. 
Their  financial  integrity  is  un- 
impeachable; the  fairness  and 
liberality  with  which  disputes, 
often  involving  intricate  points, 
are  settled,  bear  evidence  of  a 
desire  to  do  right  at  all  times. 
The  customer  always  receives 
the  benefit  of  a  doubt,  and  ten 
concessions  are  granted  to  one 
received.  No  other  line  of  business  can  lay  claim 
to  a  more  strict  performance  of  all  the  duties 
imposed;  no  set  of  men  take  less  advantage  of 
opportunities  for  sharp  practices.  But  it  is  not 
of  our  duties  to  the  public,  but  of  our  relations 
to  each  other  that  this  chapter  is  written. 


218 


MR  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


Managers  are  neither  better  nor  worse  than 
average  intelligent  business  men,  subjected  to 
similar  provocations  and  temptations.  The  ab- 
stract absolute  is  unattainable,  difficult  to  ap- 
proximate even,  and  although  there  is  but  little 
positive  dishonesty,  the  majority  of  the  short- 
comings being  of  a  negative  character,  only  the 
hypocrite  asserts  he  has  kept  all  his  engage- 
ments. Instead  of  mending  one  fault,  he  adds 
another.  All  deviate  at  times;  some — unfortu- 
nately— more  times  than  others.  It  is  not  the 
isolated  case  that  debases,  but  the  habit  con- 
firmed by  repetition.  A  man  may  take  an  occa- 
sional drink,  yet  be  a  temperate  man,  even  a 
temperance  advocate,  but  too  frequent  repetition 
changes  his  status  entirely.  There  are  few  or  no 
teetotalers,  notwithstanding  the  Pharisaical  pro- 
testations. 

So  long  as  insurance  is  a  business,  the  ethics 
must  necessarily  remain  shadowy  and  ill-defined. 
Generally  speaking,  there  is  no  special  ethical 
code  applicable  to  money  getting,  or  if  there  is, 
it  is  not  apparent  to  the  observer  in  other  lines 
of  business.  What  ethics  we  have  is  confined  to 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  219 

and  necessitated  by  our  system  of  co-operation, 
expressed  or  implied.  The  outsider  is  entitled 
to  and  receives  scant  courtesy.  As  the  quacks 
outnumber  the  regular  practitioners,  even  our 
limited  code  is  restricted  in  its  application.  Its 
laws  are  frequently  subjugated  by  lex  talionis. 
When  smitten  we  refuse  to  turn  the  other  cheek, 
and  frequently  strike  back  instead,  another  evi- 
dence, if  another  were  needed,  of  our  human 
frailty. 

As  original  sin,  unrestrained  by  the  lax 
moral  code,  leavens  the  whole  lump,  it  fol- 
lows that  practice,  not  theory,  must  be  our 
business  guide.  Our  associates  are  theoreti- 
cally above  reproach.  They  are  presumed 
to  execute  all  the  obligations  they  have  in- 
curred, but  we  may  not  rely  too  implicitly 
upon  presumption ;  we  must  take  account  of 
the  difference  between  theory  and  practice. 
Questions  arise  daily  requiring  practical  an- 
swers. Conundrums  are  propounded  neces- 
sitating practical  solutions.  Situations  occur 
demanding  practical  treatment.  The  code 
of  ethics,  the  courtesy  due  our  associates, 

I,. .. |- 1.,.|.(. ,.,.,. ,.,.,.,,,!,,,.,.  j...|'i'|"T"l 
-•?~>-a-«>««i-«oO'2=^     Si     *}     I 

~   .1,1, I.T.I. f.l.l.t. I.  I.  !,!.!. I. ,.!.!,  1. 1. 1, 1. It. 1. 1. 1.  I. J.I.I 


-11 
-ft  — 


-6  - 


220  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

can  not  untie  all  the  knots.  Self-preservation 
cuts  some  of  them,  and  is  responsible  for  a  good 
many  of  our  business  short-cuts. 

The  Manager  who  conducts  an  office  upon 
theory,  his  own  or  another's,  has  little  prospect 
of  achieving  success.  If  a  better  system  than 
the  one  we  are  following  were  devised  and 
adopted,  the  same  elements  would  appear  and 
disarrange  the  plans.  Business  will  never  be 
transacted  ideally,  but  practically.  In  an  ideal 
world  there  is  no  room  for  the  Manager;  it  is  the 
deviation  from  the  perfect  condition  that  makes 
a  place  for  him.  Theory  will  not  even  amelior- 
ate. We  must  meet  common  abuses  in  a  com- 
mon-sense way.  While  we  may  not  eradicate 
them,  we  may  keep  them  within  bounds,  or 
reduce  them  to  a  minimum.  If  we  followed  the 
advice  of  all  the  insurance  doctors,  we  should 
soon  land  in  the  cemetery.  Such  a  course  would 
be  as  foolish  as  an  effort  to  regulate  our  daily 
lives  by  the  don'ts  of  half  a  hundred  physicians 
— it  would  starve  us  to  death. 

The  conclusions  are  open  to  no  misconstruc- 
tion, and  do  not  excuse  even  negative  bad  faith. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


221 


They  do  offer  a  plea  in  abatement,  a  plea  entered 
from  business  necessity,  and  registered  in  the 
cashier's  office.  Loyola's  maxim  may  not  placate 
the  conscience  of  the  Manager,  but  it  is  quite 
sufficient  for  the  business  office  if  the  means 
attained  the  end.  The  conduct  of  the  average 
executive  officer  is  like  my  railway  line  on  my 
railway  map.  It  is  an  air  line  straight  and  un- 
varying. No  deviations  are  found  on  the  closest 
inspection,  but  there  are  curves  in  the  roadbed 
for  all  that.  Engineering  skill  may  reduce  the 
number,  may  widen  the  gradient,  but  can  not 
tunnel  all  the  hills,  nor  fill  all  the  depressions. 
Some  curves  are  unavoidable. 


CHAPTER  V 

LEGISLATION 


have 


the  General  Agent 
owe  any  duties 
to  his  associates, 
his  agents,  or  the 
t>lic  not  common  to 
business  men,  they 
never  been  discovered. 
Wherein  do  our  relations  to 
each  other  differ  from  those  of 
any  class  associated  in  the  prosecution  of  business 
for  gain?  Do  we  owe  the  public — our  customers — 
any  debt  not  due  from  the  banking  interests  to 
the  same  public,  for  instance?  Solvency,  ability 
to  cash  our  obligations,  fair  treatment? 

It  is  in  our  relations  to  government  that 
insurance  interests  differ  from  all  others,  and 
this  anomalous  position  is  the  outgrowth  of,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  prominent  example  of 


(223) 


224  ME  MOIRES  OF  NA  T.  H.  JONES 

the  socialistic  tendency  of  American  legislation. 
Starting  upon  a  parity  with  banking,  where  solv- 
ency only  was  considered  the  especial  care  of  the 
State,  see  how  the  little  mustard  seed  has  grown ! 
The  principle  of  State  supervision  once  ad- 
mitted, who  can  foretell  the  end?  Certainly 
not  the  present  generation.  The  Manager  of 
fifty  years  ago  would  have  considered  it  impos- 
sible to  transact  business  under  present  condi- 
tions. And,  as  the  limit  is  not  yet  in  sight,  we 
may  reasonably  expect  continued  progress  during 
the  coming  half  century. 

That  fire  insurance  is  a  legitimate,  honorable 
calling  can  not  be  controverted  by  its  most 
violent  persecutor.  By  what  peculiar  mental 
process,  then,  is  it  classed  with  the  liquor  traffic, 
and  hampered,  restrained,  licensed  and  all  but 
taxed  out  of  existence  in  many  States,  particu- 
larly in  the  West  ?  The  most  rational  explana- 
tion is  that  it  is  a  vicarious  sacrifice  for  the  real 
and  imaginary  sins  of  corporations  in  general; 
an  easily  reached  representative  of  the  non-resi- 
dent money  power,  that  in  some  undefined  way 
is  responsible  for  the  low  prices  of  corn  and 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  225 

cotton.  The  punishment  is  out  of  all  proportion 
to  any  imputed  crime.  The  effect  too  serious 
and  far-reaching  for  any  apparent  cause. 

Anti-corporate  legislation  springs  from  two 
sources — the  assumption  that  the  people  cannot 
take  care  of  themselves  and  must  be  protected, 
and  the  further  assumption  that  corporations, 
especially  insurance  companies,  are  a  menace  to 
somebody  or  something  unstated,  and  must  be 
restrained.  That  the  people  are  imbeciles  and 
the  companies  pirates.  That  the  one  requires  a 
guardian,  and  the  other  a  keeper. 

The  labyrinth  into  which  this  assumption 
has  conducted  us  is  complicated  by  the  degree  of 
vagary,  and  the  absence  of  uniformity,  among 
the  States.  One  is  content  with  prescribing  the 
form  and  conditions  of  the  contract — the  mildest 
variety  of  paternalism;  and  all  the  shades  are 
added  until  the  union  of  all  colors  is  found  in  a 
few  of  the  socialistic  communities  in  the  South 
and  West.  Underwriters  are  justly  disturbed, 
for  in  addition  to  the  prescriptions  and  restric- 
tions, the  burden  of  taxation  is  annually  increas- 
ing, until  in  at  least  one  community  it  amounts 


226  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

(National,  State  and  Municipal,)  to  quite  ten  per 
cent  of  the  gross  premium  income. 

What  can  we  do  to  remedy  it?  Nothing 
effective.  The  causes  are  mental,  moral  and 
political.  We  may  hope  the  public  has  reached 
the  crisis  of  delirium,  and  may  change  for  the 
better,  but  we  cannot  cure  it  with  doses  of 
education.  All  the  professors  of  political  econ- 
omy could  not  convince  an  advocate  of  restric- 
tion that  an  insurance  company  has  a  moral  right 
to  existence  upon  any  terms.  The  education 
required  to  change  his  views  is  fundamental,  of 
a  much  wider  range  than  any  yet  proposed,  im- 
practicable, and  impossible  to  execute  in  one 
generation. 

Our  agents  are  part  of  the  community,  and 
as  they  have  been  the  instigators  of  some  of  the 
freak  legislation,  it  is  quite  apropos  to  give  their 
mental  equipment  some  attention.  We  might 
reach  the  legislator  through  the  medium  of  our 
agent,  his  neighbor  and  political  associate,  but 
we  cannot  do  any  effective  work  at  long  range. 
Arguments  fail,  reasonings  miscarry,  facts  are 
scouted.  They  do  not,  combined,  equal  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


227 


approving    nod   of  one   of    his    country   constit- 
uents. 

The  disease  must  run  its  course — the  fever 
must  burn  itself  out.  During  convalescence  we 
must  grin  and  bear,  or,  if  we  cannot  endure,  we 
may  succumb.  The  would-be  physicians  mis- 
understand the  disease  and  prescribe  palliatives 
when  constitutional  treatment  is  required.  The 
cure,  in  any  event,  will  not  be  accomplished 
during  our  generation,  and  we  must  adapt  our- 
selves to  our  environment  the  best  we  may. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OF   THE   RATE 

HE  object  of  our  business 
is  money  getting.  The 
source  is  the  premium. 
The  basis  is  the  rate.  It 
follows  that  the  rate  re- 
ceived and  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  premiums  are 
the  determining  factors. 
If  the  one  is  adequate 
and  the  other  not  squan- 
dered, the  object  may  be 
attained.  In  any  event, 
there  is  no  hope  of  profit 
if  the  rate  be  under-esti- 
mated. 

WHAT  IT  Is.  If  the  rate  to  us  is  the  basis 
of  the  premium,  to  the  people  at  large  it  is  a  tax 
levied  more  or  less  evenly  upon  the  owners  of 
real  improvements  and  personal  property;  a  tax 


(229) 


230 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


paid  to  private  distributors,  stock  or  mutual,  in- 
stead of  government;  a  tax  paid  voluntarily, 
under  only  such  stress  as  business  prudence 
necessitates,  but  a  tax  nevertheless.  It  is  within 
the  province  of  the  payee  when  requested  to  ex- 
plain not  only  why  levied,  but  how  arrived  at,  how 
distributed,  and  what  disposition  is  made  of  it. 

The  tax  is  necessitated  by,  and  the  rate  of 
taxation  approximately  determined  from,  the  lia- 
bility to  fire  waste.  The  possibility  of  fire  is 
always  present  and  can  not  be  eliminated.  The 
probability  depends  upon  many  circumstances, 
chiefly : 

Faulty  construction  of  buildings,  faulty  ma- 
terial, plans,  or  execution. 

Proximity,  congestion  and  exposures. 

The  storage  and  sale  of  inflammable  wares. 

Probability  may  be  increased  by  vicious  laws, 
or  the  absence  of  salutary  ones,  and  diminished 
by  fire  protection  of  various  kinds. 

So  much  for  the  object.  But  insurance 
companies  do  not  insure  buildings,  they  insure 
persons;  property  is  not  insured,  but  the  owner 
is  indemnified  against  its  loss,  consequently  there 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  231 

are  other  and  frequently  as  important  factors  to 
be  considered  as  the  physical,  which  we  term  the 
moral. 

The  credit  and  mercantile  standing  of  the 
owner  or  occupant,  his  business  record  and  repu- 
tation, his  former  successes,  failures,  or  fires,  a 
persistent  run  of  bad  luck,  carefulness  or  care- 
lessness, will  suggest  some  of  the  numerous  per- 
sonal attributes  that  may  contribute  to  or  detract 
from  the  probability,  aside  from  the  physical 
hazard.  As  their  presence  or  absence  in  the 
individual  risk  can  not  always  be  gauged,  the 
moral  risk  is  distributed  among  all  insurers  pro 
rata. 

ITS  SPONSORS.  Its  parentage  varies  with 
locality.  In  some  States  it  is  a  statutory  orphan, 
and  under  the  care  of  its  step-mother — the  as- 
sured— it  is  growing  weaker,  punier,  smaller.  In 
other  localities  where  it  is  not  yet  forbidden  by 
public  policy,  nor  considered  a  menace  to  public 
morals,  the  Local  is  its  nurse,  the  Special  its 
tutor,  and  the  Manager  its  guardian.  Its  exist- 
ence is  a  modern  Pilgrim's  Progress,  daily  beset 
with  temptations,  trials  and  pitfalls;  often  neg- 


232  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT  H.  JONES 

lected  by  its  nurse,  beaten  by  its  preceptor,  and 
all  but  abandoned  by  its  guardian.  Under  the 
temporary  care  of  the  compact  and  State  rater  it 
grew  abnormally,  and  was  twice  as  large  as  its 
chief  opponent — Loss  Ratio ;  but  when  the  Leg- 
islature sent  its  deputy  guardian  to  the  peniten- 
tentiary,  it  lost  its  advantage — nearly  lost  its  life. 
How  IT  Is  MADE.  In  some  localities,  and 
in  the  whole  country  upon  some  hazards,  by 
schedule.  The  basis  upon  which  the  schedule  is 
built  is  the  outgrowth  of  time,  experience  and 
competition.  It  is  the  unfinished  product  of  evo- 
lution, and 'the  varying  conditions  are  responsible 
for  its  lack  of  uniformity.  The  schedule  is  an 
attempt,  more  or  less  successful,  to  equalize  the 
tariff  by  classes.  All  are  similar,  all  essentially 
one.  While  the  Universal  Mercantile  Schedule 
comprises  the  Summum  Bonum,  it  may  be  con- 
sidered an  elaboration  of  any  one  in  use.  One 
of  the  best  defenses  of  the  schedule  is  that  all 
of  them  applied  to  the  same  hazard  yield  ap- 
proximately the  same  result.  They  are  con- 
structed to  furnish  the  product  z=x+y,  experi- 
ence and  competition. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  233 

Though  not  pertinent  to  the  subject,  I  can 
not  refrain  from  mentioning  one  product  of 
schedule  ratings,  the  book  underwriter — Local, 
Special  or  General — who  is  gradually  replacing 
the  man  who  relied  upon  his  own  information 
and  experience  for  the  conduct  of  his  business. 
He  is  a  good  enough  fair-weather  pilot,  but  can 
he  be  trusted  to  steer  intelligently  through  a 
storm  that  obliterates  all  his  landmarks?  Can 
anything  replace  personal  study  and  experience? 

CAN  WE  IMPROVE  THE  SYSTEM?  It  is  ad- 
mitted that  rates  are  not  scientifically  made, 
neither  is  the  Cripple  Creek  mineral  formation 
scientific,  an  illustration  of  the  divergence  of 
science  from  Nature.  Rates  may  never  be  scien- 
tific, but  improvements  to  the  present  natural 
system  may  be  discovered.  If  it  were  possible 
(it  is  not),  to  reduce  rate-making  to  an  exact 
science,  would  not  government  confiscate  our 
business  and  leave  us  worse  off  than  we  are  now? 

Nearly  all  the  companies  have  a  classifica- 
tion of  the  receipts  and  the  losses  by  States,  by 
years  and  by  decades.  These  show  the  experi- 
ence of  the  individual  company,  but  are  of  little 


234  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

value  in  determining  what  the  present  average 
rate  is  by  classes,  and,  consequently,  what  the 
future  rate  should  be.  The  material  at  hand  is 
not  adapted  to,  was  not  intended  for  use  as,  a 
basis  for  rates.  Companies  keep  their  experi 
ence  tables  for  their  private  information  on  the 
proportion  of  income  to  outgo  by  classes  at  going 
rates;  to  determine  their  trade  profit  or  loss, 
and  formulate  their  policy,  gauge  their  lines, 
select  their  business  from  their  experience. 

Basic  classification  sheets  for  rates  to  be  of 
practical  value  should  consist  of  amount  insured, 
premiums  and  losses  by  classes  and  States.  De- 
tails are  of  minor  importance,  but  the  amount  of 
liability  assumed  is  a  sine  qua  non;  yet  this 
feature  appears  to  have  been  overlooked  in  the 
general  discussion.  Losses  to  amount  insured, 
plus  loading  for  expense  and  contingencies,  will 
show  the  cost  and  furnish  a  lantern  light  for  our 
guidance;  dim  perhaps,  but  brighter  and  more 
reliable  than  the  ignis  fatuus  we  now  follow. 

WHAT  Is  DONE  WITH  IT?  The  rate  pays 
for  everything,  on  an  average,  in  about  the  fol- 
lowing proportions: 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  235 

Commissions 20  % 

Management  Expenses 10% 

Supervising  Expenses 4% 

Taxes 

Losses 

Dividends 2% 


Total 100% 

For  individual  companies  the  division  is 
made  in  different  proportions,  some  with  a  larger 
commission  account,  some  with  a  larger  loss 
account,  but  the  average  is  substantially  as 
above.  When  the  parts  exceed  the  whole,  the 
excess  is  supplied  from  the  reserve  or  rest.  The 
shareholder  is  served  last  or  not  at  all,  and  in 
any  event  his  returns  are  not  proportionate  to  the 
jeopardy  of  his  capital. 

There  is  necessarily  considerable  discussion 
over,  and  criticism  of,  the  division,  but  it,  like 
the  average  rate,  is  not  arbitrary,  but  a  growth — 
the  result  of  evolution,  and  has  not  yet  reached 
maturity.  Commissions  are  growing,  taxes  are 
growing,  losses  are  growing.  We  can  not  con- 
trol taxes,  we  can  only  measurably  control  losses 
at  the  expense  of  some  other  item,  and  we  ap- 
parently will  not  control  commissions.  While 
the  parts  are  increasing,  the  whole  is  stationary, 


236  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

or  decreasing.  The  dividends,  at  this  rate,  must 
either  be  paid  from  the  rest,  or  shortly  disappear 
entirely. 

One  not  familiar  with  the  business  would 
suggest  an  easy  remedy.  If  the  rate  be  inade- 
quate, raise  it;  but  we  may  not  arbitrarily  inter- 
fere with  long-established  prices,  and  while  a 
loss  on  the  entire  business  would  appear  to  justify 
such  a  step,  we  hesitate.  Localities  may  be  pen- 
alized, and  for  this  there  is  a  justification  at  hand, 
as  in  the  case  of  a  particular  city  where  business 
has  long  been  transacted  at  a  loss.  Our  relations 
with  our  patrons  are  so  delicately  balanced,  the 
competition  is  so  active,  the  raison  d^etre  of  our 
business  so  imperfectly  understood,  that  Smith 
in  California  can  not  see  why  a  loss  upon  an- 
other Smith  in  New  Jersey  should  be  summarily 
charged  up  to  him;  and  the  friction  resulting 
from  an  attempt  to  convince  him  may  equal  the 
actual  underwriting  loss  under  his  present  rate. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


237 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  RATE 


ECAUSE  we  charge 
upon  an  estimated  per- 
centage of  loss  based 
upon  past  experience, 
and  the  estimates  may  be 
and  frequently  are  wide  of 
the  amount  required,  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  an  exact 
rate  upon  any  risk  or  class 
of  risks.  All  we  claim  is 
an  approximation.  All  we 
can  hope  is  annually  to 
lessen  the  distance  between  the  estimate  and  the 
amount  needed. 

As  we  do  not  lay  claim  to  infallibility  in 
the  aggregate,  we  cannot  claim  accuracy  in 
detail.  Rates  are  based  upon  the  experience  of 
years,  in  wide  areas.  No  one  year,  no  one 
locality  can  be  considered  apart  from  the  aggre- 


238  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

gate.  With  a  very  few  exceptions  no  one  class 
can  be  detached  from  the  whole,  and  be  made  to 
yield  a  profit,  or  even  be  made  self-sustaining. 
The  individual  rate  cannot  be  considered  apart 
from  the  whole,  of  which  it  is  a  part,  since  no 
one  risk  can  pay  a  rate  that  will  pay  a  loss. 

No  system  of  classification,  however  complex 
or  complete;  no  experience  tables  individual  or 
combined;  no  schedule  built  by  fallible  man  can 
justify  or  defend  the  individual  rate  apart  from 
its  class.  The  reason  is  evident.  No  two  risks 
are  identical,  physically  and  morally.  They 
differ  in  location,  exposures,  construction,  occu- 
pancy and  ownership.  Every  one  differs  in  some 
respect  from  every  other,  and  the  infinity  of 
detail  is  not  subject  to  classification;  to  attempt 
it  would  be  absurd. 

Since  the  underwriter  admits  the  impos- 
sibility of  explaining  the  exact  individual  rate 
charged,  whence  does  the  assured,  who  has  given 
the  subject  little  or  no  study,  derive  the  fixed 
opinion  that  his  rate  is  too  high?  How  may 
we  best  explain  to  him  the  unknowable?  All 
attempts  have  miscarried,  but  to  the  reasonable 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


239 


policy  buyer,  and  he  is  one  of  the  large  majority, 
should  be  explained  the  broad  mutuality  of  insur- 
ance; that  the  stock  company  only  differs  from 
the  purely  mutual  in  that  the  rate  is  fixed,  and 
the  indemnity  guaranteed  by  capital  funds;  that 
the  responsibility  for  results  is  shifted  from  the 
insured  to  the  shareholder;  that  he  is  relieved  of 
the  speculative  feature ;  that  he  is  not  penalized 
beyond  his  business  competitor;  and  that  he 
actually,  at  the  present  writing,  gets  his  insur- 
ance at  less  than  cost.  No  business  man  should 
require  more  for  his  money. 

THE  IMPROVED  AND  PROTECTED  RATE.  The 
influence  of  fire  preventing  con- 
struction and  fire  extinguishing 
appliances  on  the  individual  rate 
has  been  enormous,  large  enough  to 
affect  the  general  average.  There 
is  a  difference  of  opinion  on  the 
advisability  of  underwriters  taking 
an  active  interest  in  either  con- 
struction or  protection.  My  own  is  opposed  to 
the  custom  as  practiced.  Admitting  they  ac- 
complish their  aim — the  reduction  of  the  fire 


240  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

waste — at  whose  expense  is  it?  The  entire  cost 
of  the  equipment  is  taken  from  the  insurance 
charge  in  an  average  term  of  five  years.  The 
reduction  in  the  rate  pays  for  the  installation, 
and  in  the  West  at  least,  the  concessions  made 
are  over- adequate. 

Again,  as  a  rule,  we  are  general  insurers. 
Our  writings  are  not  confined  to  any  one  class. 
If  we  pick  out  all  the  protected  risks  and  insure 
them  at  a  minimum,  what  results?  The  neces- 
sary loading  for  moral  hazard,  conflagrations, 
contingencies,  even  for  proportionate  expense, 
is  not  included,  and  must  be  distributed  among 
the  non-protected  risks.  It  makes  the  sprinkler 
a  preferred  creditor,  not  only  gives  it  a  mortgage 
on  the  assets,  but  foists  the  expense  of  the  admin- 
istrator upon  the  already  burdened  general  insurer. 

As  insurance  is  business,  the  only  objection 
is  dictated  by  policy.  The  impression  left  upon 
the  general  insurer  is  unfavorable;  the  gulf 
between  the  protected  manufacturing  risk  and 
the  unprotected  mercantile  risk,  or  even  the  non- 
productive dwelling  house,  is  wide  enough  to 
cause  comment;  and  it  is  questionable  if  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  241 

prospective  profits  justify  the  discrepancy  in 
the  charge. 

WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE?  We  may  take  it 
for  granted  that  any  change  will  be  of  slow 
growth,  that  united  experience  will  be  compiled, 
if  at  all,  in  the  distant  future.  That  thereafter 
it  would  require  a  decade  to  evolve  a  safe  basis. 
How  about  the  interim?  We  must  continue  the 
present  defective  system  until  a  better  super- 
sedes it,  and  we  cannot  do  better  than  turn  all 
our  attention  to  such  improvements  as  may  be 
suggested.  Percentage  increases  and  decreases 
by  localities  and  by  classes  have  been  used  as  a 
counter- weight  for  the  fluctuating  loss  ratio. 
Cannot  a  better  be  devised  ?  It  is  open  to  the 
objection  and  partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  punitive 
measure,  a  permanent  charge  for  possibly  a  tem- 
porary loss.  As  a  penalty  for  deficient  protection 
for  which  concessions  were  granted,  it  is  justifi- 
able. Otherwise  it  is  undignified,  and  a  con- 
tradiction of  the  broad  mutuality  of  insurance 
above  referred  to. 

Laying  impractical  theories  and  unattainable 
hopes  and  expectations  aside,  is  there  not  suffi- 


242 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


cient  grey  matter  employed  in  the  business  to 
originate  something  practical  ?  While  we  theorize 
and  speculate,  we  are  selling  our  wares  below 
cost.  A  patron  similarly  circumstanced  would 
be  unable  to  secure  our  policies.  He  might  have 
a  fire,  instead  of  a  failure.  Are  we  not  in  danger 
of  an  explosion  or  a  collapse? 

The  Manager  who  continues  to  accept  busi- 
ness at  less  than  cost,  and  the  Manager  who 
encourages  or  permits  waste  or  extravagance  in 
the  division  of  the  premiums,  must  surely  settle 
their  scores  with  the  shareholder ;  must  anticipate 
une  mauvaise  quart  d^heure.  We  owe  our  first 
duty  to  the  stockholder,  the  next  to  ourselves, 
and  a  final  one  to  the  public.  There  is  a  dis- 
position to  reverse  the  order,  which  bodes  ill  for 
the  future. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


243 


CHAPTER  VIII 

OF   INSURANCE   ASSOCIATIONS 


THE  LOCAL  BOARD. 

F  the  agents  are  the  foundation  of 
the  business,  local  boards  were 
the  mortar  that  held  the  stones  in 
place.  When  we  gouged  out  this 
cohesive  tie,  letting  the  wind  and 
weather  in,  disintegration  began 
and  unless  checked  will  continue 
until  the  superstructure  falls  upon 
its  crumbling  base.  In  recogni- 
tion of  its  shaky  condition  we  have  propped 
it  in  one  place  with  a  compact,  in  another 
with  a  State  rater;  we  have  shored  it  up 
with  union  jack-screws,  but  we  have  not 
attempted  to  repair  the  foundation,  though 
we  have  added  loose  material  until  it  re- 
sembles a  stone  heap. 

Shall  we  continue  to  inhabit  the  shack 
likely  to  fall  about  our  ears  when  another 
prop  is  knocked  out?  Shall  we  move  it  to 


244  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

a  new  foundation,  or  shall  we  repair  the  old  one? 
We  have  an  abundance  of  material  at  hand,  some 
of  it  good,  much  of  it  indifferent,  a  little  bad. 
We  have  scores  of  capable  willing  workmen. 
Can  not  one  of  the  many  architects  construct  a 
plan  upon  which  we  can  agree  and  work? 

THE  STATE  BOARD.  When  the  local  boards 
were  abolished  the  State  Board  was  first  whittled 
down  to  a  Field  Club,  then  to  a  social  club;  a 
nest  for  the  compact  was  made  out  of  the  shav- 
ings; but  there  is  not  enough  of  the  original 
board  left  to  make  a  golf  stick.  The  semi-lit- 
erary, semi-social  gathering  is  all  that  remains, 
where  business  topics  are  tabu,  and  from  which 
nothing  of  practical  value  is  expected.  Its 
raison  d^etre  was  the  rate  making  power,  and 
when  this  was  withdrawn  it  lost  the  cohesive 
attraction  of  a  vital  common  m  interest.  It 

MB 

can     be     rejuvenated     only     M     through    the 

£a 

restoration  of  authority  and    M  responsibility. 
THE  NATIONAL  Asso  f  CIATION.    The  lo- 

M 

cal  agents  recognized  the  iff  necessity  of  associ- 
ation, and  formed  one  ff  national  in  its  scope, 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


245 


which  promises  to  become  a  considerable  factor 
in  the  business.  While  it  was  viewed  by  many 
company  officers  with  distrust  when  it  was  first 
proposed,  it  is  now  conceded  by  all  to  hold  the 
germs  of  good.  As  it  has  grown,  the  original 
radical  element  has  disappeared,  and  is  succeeded 
by  the  conservatism  born  of  numbers, 
with  a  directing  force  that  recognizes 
the  communion  of  interest  between  all 
branches  of  the  business.  As  an  effort  to 
improve  the  condition  of  its  members,  it  is 
entitled  to  aid  and  comfort;  for  what  it  has 
already  accomplished,  it  is  to  be  commended;  for 
what  it  hopes  to  accomplish,  it  deserves  encour- 
agement. 

Its  greatest  efficiency  will  be  reached  only 
when  the  State  Associations  are  further  subdivided 
and  localized.  While  it  could  not  perform  all  the 
functions  of  the  local  boards,  it  might  measurably 
replace  them,  and  quadruple  its  usefulness;  and 
the  companies  could  not  complain  if  the  ground 
they  have  abandoned  be  occupied  by  others. 

COMPANY  UNIONS.  Nothing  stands  between 
us  and  chaos  but  the  associations  of  the  com- 


246  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

panics  or  managers,  and  what  Chaos  really  is, 
can  be  explained  by  either  the  New  Yorker  or 
the  San  Franciscan,  for  both  have  lived  under 
his  rule.  What  polite  language  is  strong  enough 
to  characterize  the  company  or  General  Agent 
that  not  only  refuses  to  contribute  to  the  common 
security,  but  skulks  around  the  block-house  with 
knife  and  tomahawk  in  hand,  scalping  friends 
and  enemies  alike?  What  becomes  of  the  guer- 
rilla when  the  regular  army  capitulates?  Has 
he  any  sympathy  in  his  merited  misfortunes? 

These  free-lances,  under  leaders  old  enough 
to  know  better,  and  strong  enough  to  hold  their 
own  with  any  competitor  under  discipline,  are 
comparable  only  to  atheists.  They  offer  no  creed 
of  their  own,  no  substitute  for  an  institution  ad- 
mittedly a  necessary  one,  and  exist  only  by  the 
sufferance  of  the  society  they  are  attempting  to 
uproot.  No  epithet  is  too  opprobrious  for  such 
canaille,  no  inquisition  too  rigid. 

The  leper  is  cast  out,  sequestered  from  the 
community  he  contaminates.  What  rule  of  con- 
duct compels  us  to  walk  arm  in  arm  with  the 
like?  Nothing  but  moral  cowardice  prevents 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


247 


absolute  separation,  and  nothing  less  than  sepa- 
ration will  guarantee  a  continued  healthy  exist- 
ence. A  few  tainted  ones,  if  cast  away  at  the 
same  time,  would  prove  an  additional  safeguard. 
AUXILIARY  ASSOCIATIONS.  There  are  thirty 
odd  collateral  societies  indirectly  connected  with 
the  business  but  not  necessarily  composed  of 
insurance  men.  All  are  useful,  especially  the 
technical  ones,  but  not  worthy  of  particular  no- 
tice. They  serve  as  educational  institutions  and 
by  bringing  the  individuals  interested  in  like  sub- 
jects closer  together  are  useful  adjuncts  to  the 
central  unions  of  company  Managers. 


CHAPTER  IX 


ORGANIZATION   AND  CO- 
OPERATION 


I  HEN  I  was  a  Local  Agent  I 
was  an  active  member  of 
a  Board;  as  a  Special,  I 
did  my  full  portion  of  State 
Board  work;  as  a  General 
Agent,  I  consider  organiza- 
tion a  necessity  of  the  first 
importance.  Without  it, 
there  can  be  no  co-opera- 
tion, and  without  a  measure  of  mutual  assistance 
what  would  become  of  us?  I  am  not  only  an 
earnest  advocate  of  union  among  Managers,  but 
I  go  further  and  deprecate  the  lack  of  managerial 
interest  in  subordinate  associations.  A  large 
portion  of  our  rate  troubles  is  the  direct  result  of 
the  usurpation  by  the  General  Agent  of  functions 
formerly  performed  by  the  local  and  field  force. 
As  a  very  few  disreputable  adjusters  were  respon- 


(249) 


250  M£ MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

sible  for  the  valued  policy  laws,  so  anti-compact 
laws  were  enacted  to  kill  the  compact  manager. 
When  even  the  small  measure  of  authority 
formerly  vested  in  local  boards  was  withdrawn, 
one  of  the  closest  bonds  between  the  agent  and 
the  company  was  severed.  When  the  agent  saw 
long  established  tariffs  arbitrarily  changed  by  an 
independent  authority  with  which  neither  he,  his 
Special  nor  his  Manager  had  any  influence,  we 
lost  his  sympathy  and  support.  When  he  lost 
his  influence  on  the  rate,  his  hold  on  the  policy- 
holder  was  weakened.  Instead  of  arguing  with 
the  dissatisfied  patron,  or  conciliating  him  with 
reasonable  concessions,  he  made  but  one  reply  to 
his  complaint:  "I  know  your  rate  is  wrong,  but 
I  can't  help  you.  You  must  see  the  Compact 
Manager,"  etc. 

The  result  of  this  misapplied  power  is 
apparent  in  many  localities.  The  appeal  from 
arbitrary  methods  was  so  effective  that  we  are  in 
a  worse  condition  than  we  were  before.  Now 
rates  are  lower  than  the  old  local  board  rates. 
The  effect  on  the  field  force  was  secondary,  but 
adverse.  No  field  man  can  be  found  who  is  an 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  251 

advocate  of  the  compact  system  at  long  range, 
though  many  may  recommend  it  for  business 
centers.  St.  Louis  was  the  oldest  local  board 
city  in  the  West,  and  the  St.  Louis  merchant 
and  policy-holder  was  the  only  man  in  the  State 
that  protested  against  the  proposed  Statute 
abolishing  the  board.  His  protest  was  vigorous, 
but  unavailing.  The  compacts  outside  the  city 
were  too  heavy  a  handicap. 

It  can  do  no  good  to  mourn  over  the  unalter- 
able, but  how  about  the  many  localities  where 
existing  conditions  are  tending  the  same  way? 
Will  we  never  learn  ?  Shall  we  pursue  the  policy 
to  its  logical  conclusion,  the  abolition  of  rates 
and  rating  machinery  in  any  form?  The  dif- 
ference between  the  Missourian,  the  Texan  and 
the  Oregonian  is  only  one  of  degree.  The  same 
effects  will  follow  the  same  cause;  it  is  only  a 
question  of  when.  Shall  we  revert  to  the  old 
system  where  and  while  we  may,  or  shall  we 
permit  evolution  to  evolute  until  association  and 
co-operation  are  but  pleasant  memories  ?  If  the 
latter  course  is  to  be  pursued,  we  should  equip 
ourselves  for  the  inevitable.  We  are  not  up 


252  M&MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

against  the  Chinese,  where  hideous  noises  and 
grotesque  antics  will  avail.  We  shall  need  armor 
and  ammunition,  especially  ammunition.  How 
about  the  arsenal  ?  Is  it  well  stocked  ? 

Co-operation  is  effective  only  through  organ- 
ization. When  we  hear  the  cry  of  sauve  qui  pent 
we  do  not  step  back  to  permit  our  neighbor  to 
pass.  Where  there  is  no  organized  society  every 
man  is  his  own  judge,  jury  and  executioner. 
We  can  look  for  assistance  only  from  the  ones 
we  assist. 

Lax  co-operation  is  as  much  the  result  of 
imperfect  organization  as  the  inherent  desire  to 
take  a  business  advantage  of  our  fellow-man. 
Without  local  boards  we  can  get  no  local  assist- 
ance. Our  imperative  orders  may  be  executed, 
but  in  a  dilatory  way.  The  L,ocal  can  see  no 
advantage  accruing  to  him,  and  is  not  sym- 
pathetic enough  to  sacrifice  anything  for  the 
company.  Our  Specials  even  seek  excuses  to 
delay.  "Why  help  this  company  retain  a  risk 
by  cancelling  our  policy  ?  It  would  not  consider 
us  a  moment  if  the  conditions  were  reversed." 
Unfortunately  this  prophecy  is  probably  only  too 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  253 

exact.  If  the  Special  of  my  company  were  bound 
by  State  board  obligations  to  help  your  field  man 
out  of  the  mire,  would  he  invent  an  excuse  if 
none  were  at  hand,  to  evade  his  duty?  He 
would  be  ostracised  if  he  did ;  would  occupy  a 
position  no  reputable  Special  Agent  could  afford 
to  fill. 

It  results  that  what  little  assistance  the 
companies  give  each  other  is  confined  to  the 
executive  officers,  impeded  by  the  dilatory  tactics 
of  the  Local  and  the  excuses  or  justificatory  pleas 
of  the  Special.  We  are  human,  so  liable  to  err 
(always  in  our  own  favor)  that  but  one  con- 
clusion can  be  drawn.  As  the  Arizona  minister 
said  when  asked  to  deliver  an  eulogy  over  the 
remains  of  Whiskey  Pete:  "The  less  said  on 
this  subject,  the  better." 


CHAPTER  X 
DIAGNOSIS 


HE  TROSPECTIVE. 

EW  thoughtful  men  who 
have  crossed  the  hill-top  of 
life  and  begun  the  descent 
can  avoid  comparisons 
favorable  to  the  surround- 
ings of  their  early  labors. 
The  toil  and  strife  of  the 
ascent  are  forgotten;  the 
annoyances  and  disap- 
pointments, the  unattained  hopes  and  expecta- 
tions have  faded  from  the  memory ;  but  the  way- 
side flowers,  the  overhanging  foliage,  is  ever 
before  them,  and  unconsciously  compared  to  the 
withered  leaves  and  dead  branches  of  the  even- 
ing of  life. 

How  much  of  the  good  we  see  in  the  past 
and  the  evil  we  complain  of  in  the  present  is 
due  to  this  defective  but  beneficial  trait  of 


(255) 


256  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

memory?  Is  the  world  growing  worse?  Are  the 
conditions  under  which  we  exist  to-day  more 
unfavorable?  Is  fortune  more  capricious?  Or,  as 
the  optimist  affirms,  is  this  the  best  of  worlds, 
and  our  yellow  vision  due  to  jaundice  or  infirmity? 
Which  of  the  schools  is  right? 

Probably  neither  is  wholly  right  nor  wrong. 
We  have  improved  in  some  respects  and  retro- 
graded, or  what  is  equivalent,  been  stationary,  in 
others.  In  general,  our  business  is  not  in  better 
condition  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
nor  is  the  outlook  brighter.  We  can  trace  some 
of  the  causes  of  our  difficulties,  and  are  too  apt 
to  give  them  overdue  weight,  and  to  generalize 
beyond  a  point  justified  by  the  particulars.  Many 
of  our  annoyances  were  preventable,  had  we  con- 
sidered the  future  instead  of  present  expediency. 
Should  we  not  now  take  heed  of  the  final  as  well 
as  the  immediate  result  of  the  theories  suggested 
for  improvement? 

INTROSPECTIVE. 

The  major  portion  of  present  adverse  condi- 
tions is  the  result  of  our  failure  to  admit  and 
meet  the  changes  taking  place  around  us.  We 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  257 

should  be  the  broadest  of  all  business  men,  since 
we  deal  with  all  kinds  and  conditions  of  men  and 
things,  but  are  we?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  we  have 
specialized  our  thought,  and  worn  the  groove  so 
deep  we  can  not  see  the  procession  that  has  not 
only  overtaken  but  outrun  us?  Let  us  note  some 
of  the  changes  that  have  occurred  both  within 
and  without. 

As  accentuated  in  previous  chapters,  the 
duties,  qualifications  and  responsibilities  of  all 
grades  of  agents  have  been  reset  and  rearranged 
during  the  last  two  decades.  The  Local  is  un- 
trained and  unfit  for  the  duties  he  should  per- 
form; the  Special's  education  has  been  so  special- 
ized to  premium-getting  that  other  and  equally 
necessary  qualifications  have  been  neglected ;  the 
Manager  has  been  loaded  down  with  responsibili- 
ties that  were  formerly  shared  by  the  locals  and 
specials;  organization  has  been  relaxed  or  dis- 
banded; co-operation  has  all  but  ceased  to  co- 
operate. 

From  without,  restrictive  legislation  has 
thrown  its  meshes  about  us,  affecting  every  branch 
of  our  business — contract,  rates,  claims  and  asso- 


258  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

ciation.  Non-affiliating  competition  has  in- 
creased; our  largest  customers,  by  centralizing 
their  management,  reduce  expenses  to  increase 
dividends,  and  demand  and  receive  wholesale 
prices  at  our  expense.  Middle  men  are  weeded 
out.  The  tendency  in  all  lines  is  toward  concen- 
tration in  mercantile  and  manufacturing,  trans- 
portation and  distribution. 

PROSPECTIVE. 

We  need  not  worry  over  the  safety  of  the 
principle  of  insurance,  as  it  is  secure,  but  we  may 
doubt  the  perpetuation  of  present  methods  and 
the  men  wedded  to  them. 

If  our  positions  depend  upon  the  survival  of 
the  system,  we  should  be  prepared  at  any  time 
to  vacate  them.  We  can  not  long  sell  our  wares 
below  cost,  and  the  cost  is  composed  of  too  large 
a  proportion  of  expense  to  sell  them  at  list  price. 
We  can  not  continue  indefinitely  antiquated  and 
over-expensive  methods  antagonistic  to  the  trend 
of  general  business.  We  must  conform  to  our 
surroundings,  or  make  way  for  a  competitor 
modeled  upon  up-to-date  plans. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  259 

The  shareholder  will  be  the  arbiter.  When 
we  fail  to  give  him  reasonable  returns  he  will 
withdraw  his  capital.  So  long  as  he  is  satisfied 
we  are  secure,  and  it  follows  that  the  one  final 
test  of  fitness  is,  and  the  future  of  the  individual, 
from  Local  to  company  officer,  depends  upon,  our 
ability  to  earn  a  margin  equal  to  that  afforded  in 
other  business  ventures.  Is  not  self-preservation 
a  sufficient  stake  to  put  us  on  our  mettle? 


Dr.  Jones,  after  a  thorough  and  searching  ex- 
amination of  the  patient,  Fire  Insurance,  finds 
him  afflicted  with  the  following  ailments : 

CHRONIC  DYSPEPSIA.  Caused  by  gluttony. 
Bolting  too  great  quantity  in  too  hurried  a  man- 
ner. Symptoms:  Capricious  appetite,  alternating 
hunger  and  nausea,  flatulence,  fever,  and  pains 
in  the  pit  of  the  stomach. 

NEURASTHENIA.  Caused  by  impaired  nutri- 
tion, anxiety  and  grief.  Symptoms:  Disturbed 
rest,  lassitude  and  mental  depression,  with  a 
tendency  to  weep.  Frightened  on  slight  or  no 
provocation. 


260 


ME  MO  I  RES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


He  needs  attention,  as  his  condition  is  grow- 
ing serious.  His  physicians  in  ordinary,  as  well 
as  his  nurses,  are  afflicted  with  a  bad  case  of 
Hysteria,  resulting  from  nervous  strain,  with  the 
accompanying  dejection  of  spirits,  impatience, 
emotion,  excitability  and  marked  defect  of  will 
and  mental  power.  They  need  a  combined  seda- 
tive and  anti-spasmodic.  What  he  needs  shall 
be  the  theme  of  the  next  chapter. 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN 


261 


CHAPTER  XI 

PRESCRIPTION 


AISE  the  rates.  Reduce  the  commis- 
sions. Abolish  brokerage.  Prohibit 
term  business.  Improve  construction 
and  protection.  Abolish  multiple 
agencies  and  annexes.  These  are  a  few 
of  the  specifics  upon  the  market,  but 
not  one  of  them  is  a  panacea;  though 
each  might  relieve,  none  would  cure. 
When  his  engine  labors  and 
groans  under  a  normal  pressure,  does  the 
driver  increase  his  head  of  steam?  When 
the  current  is  grounded,  does  the  electri- 
cian double  his  voltage?  Do  we  need 
more  power,  or  better  and  more  economical 
application?  Manifestly  the  latter. 

The  present  average  rate  is  sufficient  if  col- 
lected upon  annual  business  and  properly  applied, 
to  pay  losses,  necessary  expenses  and  a  reason- 


262  MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

able  dividend.  The  power  is  ample,  but  the 
machinery  needs  overhauling.  Forty  per  cent 
is  lost  in  transmission,  and  it  is  our  duty  to 
reduce  the  waste  before  applying  for  an  increased 
initial  force.  Useless  wheels,  large  and  small, 
imperfect  gearings,  untrue  shafting,  absorb  five 
per  cent  of  our  power.  We  must  reduce  the 
friction.  Unpacked  valves,  leaky  cylinders,  cor- 
roded pipes,  waste  five  per  cent  more.  We  must 
repair  them.  The  foundation  has  withstood  the 
thumping  and  jarring  up  to  date;  is  still  firm  and 
worthy  of  a  better  superstructure. 

The  spendthrift's  financial  condition  is  not 
permanently  altered  by  a  new  legacy;  unless  he 
reforms  his  habits  it  is  soon  squandered,  and  he 
is  again  dead  broke.  If  the  similes  are  appli- 
cable, our  first  duty  is  apparent.  Before  asking 
our  customers  for  an  increased  tax,  we  should 
give  them  some  evidence  of  an  improved  admin- 
istration. All  of  us  admit  the  present  expense 
charge  is  too  high.  A  comparison  with  the 
economic  conditions  of  other  lines  of  business  is 
unfavorable  to  insurance.  A  continued  increase 
in  the  cost  of  administration  is  opposed  to  the 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  263 

universal  trend  of  business.  A  reduction  is  a 
prime  necessity. 

Inadequate  rates  are  the  least  of  our  troubles, 
because  rates  are  fluctuating  and  measurably  sub- 
ject to  individual  influence.  Expenses,  on  the 
contrary,  are  fixed  charges  and  amenable  only 
to  unanimous  organized  co-operative  control. 

No  single  company  can  accomplish  a  refor- 
mation; co-operation  is  necessary. 

There  can  be  no  co-operation  without  organ- 
ization; organization  is  necessary. 

There  is  no  existing  executive  organization 
broad  enough  in  its  scope  to  include  the  whole 
country;  a  new  union  is  necessary. 

A  union  composed  exclusively  of  head  execu- 
tives, having  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  Amer- 
ican business,  to  whom  Managers  and  General 
Agents  are  subordinate.  A  union  superior  to  all 
existing  organizations.  A  union  with  but  one 
object,  the  reduction  of  expenses.  Qualification 
for  membership  should  be  broad  enough  to  admit 
all  companies.  Object  of  organization  confined 
to  the  one  question.  Rates,  tariffs,  present  affili- 
ations, ignored.  A  platform  on  which  domestic 


264  ME  MOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 

and  foreign  interests  may  meet  on  an  equality. 
A  union  ignoring  all  embroiling  and  embittering 
collateral  subjects. 

Such  a  union  is  feasible  and  practicable,  and 
if  it  included  ninety  per  cent  of  the  premium 
income,  would  be  successful.  Its  simple  edict, 
issued  on  January  first,  and  requiring  a  percent- 
age reduction  in  expenses  during  the  current 
year,  would  be  effective.  The  Managers,  under 
suitable  penalties,  would  provide  the  ways  and 
means.  If  insufficient,  a  further  percentage  re- 
duction could  be  promulgated. 

The  effects  would  be  far-reaching  and  bene- 
ficial. The  abuses  that  fatten  on  the  expense 
account  would  be  abated.  Even  so  small  a 
reduction  as  ten  per  cent  of  the  present  cost 
(twenty-five  per  cent  would  be  ultimately  re- 
quired) would  accomplish  more  good,  because 
it  is  practical,  than  all  the  theories  preached  for 
a  century.  It  would  abolish  all  illegitimate  and 
excess  agency  expenses;  multiplicity  of  inspec- 
tions and  adjustments;  high  commissions  and 
brokerages  in  excepted  cities  and  larger  business 
centers,  that  have  grown  out  of  all  proportion; 


AN  INSURANCE  MAN  265 

duplicate  and  multiple  agencies ;  supernumerary 
specials  and  employees.  It  would  reduce  the 
number  of  agents,  by  weeding  out  the  incompe- 
tents, useless  departments  and  department  mana- 
gers included.  It  would  place  the  business  upon 
such  a  basis  that  it  would  require  no  apologist, 
and  it  would  not  reduce  the  income  a  penny. 

The  pill  may  be  hard  to  swallow,  the  medi- 
cine distasteful  to  the  middle  man,  but  nothing 
less  than  such  a  cathartic  will  remove  the  ob- 
structions. If  the  proposed  remedy  is  worth  a 
trial,  who  will  be  the  leader?  Who  will  consti- 
tute himself  chairman  and  call  the  meeting  to 
order? 


CHAPTER  XII 
CONCLUSION 


NEW  prophet  has  arisen  in  the 
world,  whose  coming  is  the  reac- 
tion of  overloading  and  crowding, 
whose  doctrine  is  co-operation, 
the  antithesis  of  competition. 
This  prophet  is  The  Trust,  and 
Dividend  is  his  God. 

The  sun  of  domestic  business 
expansion  has  set,  and  the  day  of 
contraction  is  dawning.  The  fire 
insurance  field  has  been  so  thor- 
oughly exploited  that  not  a  vil- 
lage has  been  neglected.  The 
plant  is  completed  and  equipped, 
and  the  construction  gang  must 
make  way  for  the  operating  force, 
since  the  returns  can  not  bear  the 
double  charge. 


(267^ 


268 


MEMOIRES  OF  NAT.  H.  JONES 


The  opportunity  of  individual  effort  is  nar- 
rowing, for  capital  is  preparing  for  emancipation 
by  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  mediocre  brains. 
There  will  always  be  room  at  the  top,  but  there 
will  be  less  room,  for  there  will  be  fewer  tops. 

The  soil  is  yearning  for  a  reflux  of  the  tide 
that  for  years  has  borne  its  cultivators  to  town 
and  city.  The  farm  awaits  the  return  of  the 
prodigal  with  outstretched  hand  and  smiling  face. 
Finance,  commerce,  profession  and  trade  can 
spare  mediocrity.  Jones,  old  man,  are  you  able 
to  turn  the  grindstone  yet — already — noche'mal? 


'ARSSJAEARTE.CVIVS 

nEDimLAB^ARI  ET  FIAI5  7>\EftDICARl 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX. 


Something  more  than  a  century  ago,  Mr. 
John  Weskett,  Merchant,  published  a  volume  at 
Dublin  under  the  following  title: 

A 
Complete  Digest 

of  the 

Theory,  Laws  and  Practice 

of 

Insurance. 

;  1t»E  Gbeortes,  Xaws  and  practices  of  f  nsur* 
ance  have  00  multiplied  and  increased  in 
tbe  interval  tbat  no  3obn  TKIleshett,  /R>er= 
cbant,  of  tbfs  Oav>  can  Diacst  tbem.  216 
an  illustration  of  tbe  antiquity  of  some  of 
tbe  Practices,  tbe  Editor  quotes  from  tbe 
Butbor's  preliminary  discourse.  ffour 
generations  bave  intervened,  all  of  tbem 

preacbing  reform,  but  practicing  beress,  and  tbe  legacy 

is  ours. 

"It  is  certain  that  there  have  not  been  wanting;  some 
Instances  of  those  stiled  great,  and  leading  Underwriters, 
from  their  Avidity  of  beginning,  or  subscribing;  almost 
every  Policy  that  appeared  to  them,  who,  far  more  bold 
then  wise,  seemed  to  depend,  in  every  Respect,  on  mere 
Chance  ;  and  to  follow  intirely  the  ridiculous  and  vulg;or 
Adag;e,that"an  Ounce  of  Luck  is  worth  a  Pound  of  Judg;- 
ment";  and,  who  have  not  only  underwritten  almost 
every  Policy,  but  adjusted  every  Averag;e,  Loss,  Return, 


(271) 


272  APPENDIX 

&c»,  just  as  they  were  exhibited  to  them,  or  as  they 
have  been  requested,  with  little,  and  very  often  no 
inspection,  or  examination,  and  without  a  single  Doc- 
ument, or  Paper  produced ;  till  they  have,  in  the  End, 
fatally  experienced  the  infallibly  bad  Consequences  of 
their  Inattention,  or  Incapacity: — for,  was  it  possible 
that  they  should  have  been  otherwise  then  constantly 
and  grosly  imposed  upon;  and  caused  many  others  to 
be  so  too,  who  were  induced,  from  entertaining:  false 
Ideas  of  the  Knowledge  and  Abilities  of  such  Leaders, 
to  follow  their  illusive  Pattern? — By  Leaders.  I  mean, 
more  precisely,  every  Person  who  first  underwrites,  or 
first  signs  an  Adjustment  on,  a  Policy. 

NEITHER  would  it  be  short  of  Truth  to  intimate, 
that  there  have  been  some  considerable  Underwriters, 
os  well  as  Brokers,  who  were  totally  ignorant  of  the 
true  Import  and  Effect  even  of  some  of  the  common, 
printed  Terms  in  Policies  of  Insurance;  nay,  who  never 
read  a  Policy  throughout  in  their  Life ; — as  many  Per- 
sons pass  for  very  good  Christians  who  never  perused 
a  single  Epistle,  or  Gospel  in  the  Liturgy. 

The  numberless  instances,  daily  occurring:,  of  very 
extraordinary  Unskilfulness,  Negligence,  and  Error, 
together  with  ATROCIOUS  Deceit  and  Imposition,  in 
the  claiming,  stating:,  and  settling4  of  Losses,  Averages, 
Salvages,  Returns,  &c. — even  on  Policies  of  large 
Amount,  ore,  in  Reality,  amazing,  and  demand  a  very- 
serious  Regard. 

On  the  other  Hand,  it  is  also  true  that  the  very 
Misconception  and  Inexperience  redound  sometimes, 
though  not  often,  to  the  Prejudice  of  Assureds  them- 
selves ;  by  calculating:  and  recovering:  less  than  their  Due. 

It  has  been,  for  a  considerable  Time  past,  a  very 
usual,  though  a  very  disgraceful  Observation,  in  our 
Courts  of  Judicature,  amongst  the  Council  employed  in 
Insurance  Causes,  that  "UNDERWRITERS  are  like  a 
Flock  of  Sheep" K;  alluding:  to  the  Inconsideraiion,  Indo- 


APPENDIX.  273 

lence,  or  Incapacity,  with  which  many  of  them  perform 
their  Business;  and  their  Aptitude  to  follow  implicitly 
the  Example  of  a  Leader;  or  any  one  who,  perhaps 
with  as  little  Judgment,  or  Information  as  themselves, 
first  subscribes  a  Policy;  or  without  Enquiry,  first  signs 
thereon  an  Adjustment  of  a  Loss,  Average,  &c» — and 
afterwards,  when  some  one  or  other  whose  Attention 
may  have  been  awakened, — his  Fears  alarmed, — or  his 
eyes  opened,  by  a  Discernment  of  some  Fallacy,  or  Dis- 
covery of  some  Fraud,  the  whole  Flock,  too  late,  take 
Fright ; — and,  being  puzzled  in  the  Maze  of  their  con- 
fused Ideas,  but  fast  bound  in  the  Pen,  Dispute  succeeds; 
and  they  find  themselves  obliged  to  run  wildly  into  a 
Court  of  Justice  for  Redress ;  which,  however,  is  seldom 
to  be  found  there,  from  the  great  Difficulty  of  ascer- 
taining Facts,  and  of  bringing  forth  the  real  Merits  of 
an  Insurance  Cause  and  the  Occasion  for  which,  by  a 
previous,  moderate  Acquaintance  with,  and  an  habitual 
Attention  to  what  they  were  about,  and  to  the  Nature 
and  Circumstances  of  the  Risque,  or  Demand, — might 
have  been  intirely  avoided;  as  well  as  the  illiberal 
Garrulity  of  certain.  Pleaders. 

Nothing  is  more  usual,  in  such  Cases,  than  for  the 
Brokers  to  say, — in  order,  merely  through  Impatience, 
to  attain  their  End  in  getting  the  Policy  adjusted,  how- 
ever wrongfully, — or  to  favor  the  Assureds,  their  Em- 
ployers— "  Why,  Sir,  such  an  one,  and  such  an  one,  or 
so  many  have  settled  it; — Why  should  you  object? — 
Well,  'tis  always  better  to  follow  Example; — to  do  as 
others  do ; — to  fall  in  with  the  Crowd ; — not  to  be  sin- 
gular; or  suspicious; — to  cavil, — or  pretend  to  know 
better  than  others ;" — and  a  great  Deal  more  of  such 
Gibberish  I  But,  this  Manner  of  proceeding,  besides  the 
palpable  and  immediate  Injustice  of  it,  evidently  tends 
to,  what  only  can  be  effected  by  it,  the  firm  Establish- 
ment and  Increase  of  Ignorance,  Error,  and  Fraua,  in 
the  Course  of  all  Matters  whatsoever  in  this  Business. 


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